Why did I Agree to DO this?
by yuki100o
Summary: Tables have turned, things are never going to be the same for ANY of our heros OR villains. A story in which Jack Frost is the enemy, and Pitch is the one recruited to help fight him back. But is the situation what it seems? Or is someone pulling the threads behind the curtain? (Picture belongs to Roseandthorn on deviantart). Rated T for possible violence.
1. The Beginning

**Yo! This is a prompt that I am doing. It practically called to me.**

**I hope you guys like it :) Here is the link to the prompt:**

**Sorry but no can do... Prompt link on the bottom of my profile page.**

**I realize now that telling the prompt would be counterproductive so for those who would just prefer to read I'll keep quiet :X**

**Exposition: The Beginning **

* * *

_I... I couldn't refuse her. _

_I just couldn't._

The woman in question was close to crying. Her spring green eyes glossy as she looked at her most precious winter sprite.

"Why me?! Of all of your sprites, why would you ask me?" Jack asked looking up at the tall woman in front of him.

She placed one shaking yet pale hand on the frost sprite's shoulder. "I am asking you because you are my youngest, yet my most powerful. Please my frost child. _Please." _The woman begged before throwing her hands around his frosted shoulders.

The immortal teen looked down sadly. He knew what he was about to do would go against everything he believed in and that he would never be the same. Despite knowing this, he knew he had no choice. One desperate look from the older woman and he had melted.

-x-

Jack Frost observed his new targets. The Tooth Fairy always remained in her home at Punjam Hy Loo, the Guardian of Wonder usually remained in his home unless it was Christmas eve, the Easter Bunny (the arse) usually stayed in his warren which he could now find due to Mother Nature, and the Sandman just traveled around when he was not on his island of sand. A mouthful yes, but he would need to know this in order for the winter's prince to find out where to start.

Let's see... the best guardian defended base is...

Santoff Claussen, or better known now as Santa's Workshop...

-x-

Now we go off farther North into the areas where the snow never melts and blizzards are the norm. In the side of a mountain range different buildings are lodged into the ever-present ice and rock. One in particular glowed the brightest.

We zoom inside to see a large man working diligently on an ice sculpture of what appeared to be an over exaggerated train track. The man at work was none other than Nicholas st. North who with his large blue eyes and ever growing knowledge brought wonder to the world.

North set a small ice carved train on the track and watched as it went down the path and flew off of the track and grew a pair of what looked like jet wings. The moment was ruined however when a yeti came barging into the room.

"Glargaba!" The yeti yelled as the door slammed into the miniature ice figurine and it shattered, falling to the ground.

They both gasped a few times before getting a hold of themselves. The father Christmas put his hand to his forehead in irritation.

"How many times have I told you to knock!" He exclaimed in heavily accented english.

The Yeti made some noises of protest, saying something in their language that only the old Cossack was known to be able to speak and understand.

"What? The globe?" North asked, confused.

He got up and strode to a certain room, the globe room, named of course for the giant globe that stood in the center. He pushed past two of the Yetis and looked at the globe, confused. The globe's lights were blinking, some going completely dark but not many.

"What is this...? Check the axis." He told one of the Yetis and it grumbled a reply before they were all silenced by a frigid wind that blew into the room.

It reminded North of the deadly winter, so known as Old Man Winter or Jokul Frosti (which I cannot find anything about!*annoyed*). The wind zoomed up the globe frosting it over and leaving behind fern like patterns that thickened, some even popping out of it's original position and sticking up into the air forming spikes, looking as deadly as it was beautiful. As quickly as the ice had formed, it had begun to break with shark cracks. With a shatter the wind scattered thousands of small sharp pieces of ice all around the room. The wind continued to swirl around, leaving the room frigid cold as it finally began to take a form as it flew above the globe. The form had barely shaped when it dissolved all together and the only thing left that signaled the presence of anything out of the ordinary was the sharp pieces of ice scattered around the room.

North who had covered his eyes only for a moment to protect them from the shards was now wide eyed and looking at the globe with something akin to fear. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion before he bent down and picked up one of the shards, examining it. The fern like pattern was still visible and he began to think hard. What being had a power such as this?

"Dingle!" North exclaimed and four elves stood at attention believing that it had been one of them that was called on. They stupidly pointed at themselves with a wide grin on their faces that turned into confusion at seeing the others.

"Make preparations. We are going to have company." He said walking up to a lever, pulling up, before pushing down.

The globe lit up with different colors and the borealis lights went up into the sky, spreading far and wide. Somewhere in Southeast Asia a castle stood proud and thousands of small hummingbird like fairies flit around, one bigger than the others directing them.

"Wait it's her first tooth, have you ever seen a more adorable lateral insider in all of your life! Look how she flossed!" The presumed Tooth Fairy's feather preened at every word.

One of the Baby Tooth's that flit around her squeaked something out and the fairy woman looked up to see the Borealis lights. She adapted a serious face before taking off, followed by several mini Teethes.

The next to notice the lights was a man of sand who stood on a cloud of sand, streaming out thin ribbons of dream sand, giving them to the children below. When the former wishing star noticed the lights he cut off the dream sand and formed it into a solo airplane. He made sure his goggles were secure before he took off.

The last to arrive was the one known as the Easter Bunny. He traveled through his tunnels and appeared through a hole. He hadn't perfected this passage to the North Pole because for some reason he kept ending up OUTSIDE instead of inside the stone structure where he always tried to end up in. He complained about cold feet as the Pooka hopped along the snow, making his way quickly to the workshop.

When they all arrived at the workshop, they would have a problem that they had never dealt with before in the past. Two problems if you included the solution.

* * *

**Yay :) I hoped you like this **

**Dani: What happened to your other stories! Why have you abandoned me and Danny! *cries***

**Anna: I quit! *rips fake contract***

**Danny:... that's what you get for hurting her feelings**

**XD Please review or I will be very sad.**


	2. The Not so Much Solution!

Chapter 2: Rising Action: The Not so Much Solution!

* * *

The guardians came in one at a time. Tooth talking rapidly with her mini tooth's, Bunnymund painting an egg, and Sandman giving confused signals made from sand.

"I know, I know, but I would not have called you here unless it was important." North was saying to Sandman who was somewhat irritated at having come to the North Pole seeing as to how busy he was.

"Someone was here, someone who gives me a very bad feeling. It practically froze all of the Yetis and much of my work has been nearly destroyed because of the ice covering everything!" North exclaimed waving his hands around.

It was now that the other three Guardians really took a look around. Ice was covering the walls in certain areas and there were ice shards everywhere. Bunnymund stopped painting the egg he had been holding and bent over to pick up one of the larger ice shards. He held it to eye level and examined it.

"Beautiful piece of work this thing is. It looks familiar though... No... it can't be." The Pooka muttered to himself, his face changing from confusion to striking realization.

"What? What is it Bunny?" North asked and all of them turned to him.

The normally tall and proud warrior was now on his haunches and looking at the ice with shock. His ears were flat against his head and he had long since dropped his paintbrush and egg. The others looked at him, concerned. He looked... lost.

"This... I've seen this frost all around the world. There is only one winter spirit powerful enough and bold enough to actually do this. I just... can't believe it." He said in a voice that held disbelief. The Bunny stood to his full height.

"The blokes... finally lost it huh?" He said, continuing to mutter to himself as he paced around the room and the others were trying to get the Bunny to talk.

"Who Bunnymund? Please tell us." Tooth pleaded as the Bunny paced while the Sandman was trying to follow the rabbit man but nearly got bumped into when Bunny strode in the opposite direction.

He finally stopped and turned to face the others who had never seen Bunnymund in such a state before. "This is the work of Jack Frost. " All of them adapted surprised looks on their faces and some of the mini fairies fainted at his name.

"Jack Frost?! You must be joking Bunny, what grudge would he have against us? We have never done anything to him!" North exclaimed and Sandman nodded in agreement.

"I know what I know mate. The only one who creates fern patterns on their ice is Jack Frost." Bunny said and dropped the piece of ice that he held in his hand still looking at the ground.

"But... why?" Tooth asked.

"I think... that the solitude might have finally got to him. That and... we have something he wants. We're believed in. He's not." Bunny stated.

"But frost child must know that by doing this, he will gain no belief correct?" The Cossack asked.

"Not sure mate. He's never been predictable. He's like no one I've ever known." Bunny said before Tooth seemed to get apprehensive.

"What about Mother Nature? Surely she wouldn't have allowed something like this to happen. I thought that she controlled all of her sprites pretty well and dealt with them when one went out of line." She said, rubbing her hands together.

"She should. Maybe she isn't aware of the situation yet. I mean, this only happened recently." North said, gesturing to everything around him.

"I can have some of my sentinels go to her Sanctuary, we can see what's goin' on with her."

As they all continued to talk, going back and forth Sandman seemed to fade out of the conversation (though he doubted that anyone noticed that he was there in the first place). He, however, perked up when he saw a moonbeam shine down. He tried to catch the attention of his friends but they were too busy talking(and eventually arguing) to listen. He eventually got extremely annoyed and to get their attention he grabbed one of the elves by it's top hat, shaking it and making the bell on the end of it's hat ring. The others finally turned their attention to the much ignored Sandman who's just completely frustrated at this point and makes a simple crescent moon over his head and points up.

"Ah! Man in Moon! Sandy, why didn't you say something?" North said, completely clueless to Sandman's annoyance.

"It's been a long time Old friend! What is the problem?" North asked, hoping against hope that it was not Jack Frost who had done this.

The moon beam extended and the light seemed to shimmer as they began to hear voices in their heads.

_It has been a long time North. You must forgive me for that. _

North chuckled and waved it off.

_It is true what Bunnymund says. This is Jack Frost's doing and I can say for sure that he will further attack and sabotage you. _

They all looked away from the light, looking somewhat sadder and more upset at being told this.

_The solution is not simple though. Jack Frost has seemed to have... gained a new power without my knowing._

They all looked up in surprise. What could Man in Moon mean?

_His frost has... mutated in some way. I am not completely sure as to how yet, but his magic is different now. This, however, is not the only change. He has seemed to have gained... a few friends._

All of them looked at each other nervously. Frost had been powerful before, but now? Would they be able to defeat him on their own. Even the proud Easter Bunny worried though he would never voice his concerns.

_I believe that I know one man who can help you. He can relate to Jack Frost at a more larger and twisted scale but I don't think he will be very willing to help you. _

They all looked to the floor trying to make sense of what Man in Moon was saying. Who was the one who was going to help them?

_You know him well, but not in a good way. You must recruit... Pitch Black._

All hell broke loose at that name. Tooth but her hands against her mouth in a gasp, Sandy went still and wide eyed, North staggered back, and Bunny flinched back as if slapped (which he might as well have been).

"Pitch Black?! You want him to help us!? No. I cannot accept his help. Not after everything he has done!" Bunnymund yelled at the bright moon above him.

_I understand that Pitch Black has done many terrible things in the past but nothing does not deserve a second chance, or have you forgotten who he had been?_

They all went silent at that. No, no they had not forgotten. But how was Manny expecting them to work with their sworn enemy? Tooth was the first to break the silence.

"Is... this really necessary?" She whispered looking up at the moon pleadingly.

_Yes... I'm sorry but you really have no choice and evidently, neither does Pitch. If you lose all belief, you will disappear and eventually so will he._

They all looked sadly at the ground as they let their minds whirl through thousands of thoughts before they all looked up at the moon and nodded.

-x-

"What! Where are the other Nightmares?! You cannot simply tell me that they _disappeared!" _A man dressed in black robes yelled.

The grey skinned man with sharp features was none other than Pitch Black and he was completely _infuriated._ All of his nightmares had seemingly disappeared into thin air. How could he attack the Guardians when he had no army! He growled in frustration as he looked at Onyx, his last remaining nightmare. It was a pitiful sight really. The nightmare king tried to refrain from pulling out any and all of his hard but it was difficult.

Who could have done this?

Later he discovered that his entire lair had been frozen over, completely covered in thick ice with fern like patterns. The cages that were supposed to eventually hold baby tooth's were bent and twisted beyond recognition. There were dangerous looking icicles surrounding the whole lair that were nearly twice as tall as Pitch himself. When he saw this he realized that someone was messing with him, that was until one of his missing nightmares attacked _him._

The thing had come out of nowhere and seemed to shift to a point where it looked like it had grown fangs and horns to go with it. It's previous thin, almost skeletal was completely filled in though for some reason it looked much more frightening then it had previously. The thing had grown wings, _wings. _Big bat wings. Did I forget to mention that it was completely iced over? The thing had been frozen in certain places, it's wings, horns, and fangs: transparent and ice blue blending into the black of the body. It's eyes were black unlike previously when it had been golden.

The Nightmare King found himself scared as ran away from... that _thing._ He jumped onto Onyx who rode him out of the lair, barely escaping the mutated Nightmare that had looked ready to kill. He put his hand over his heart as he tried to still his racing heart. He let the Nightmare ride him out of the forest and into the town of Burgess as he tried to wrap his mind around what had just happened.

Someone wanted him dead, that was for sure but who used ice in that way, and what had he done to offend any of the Winter Seasonals? Okay, there was that one Yuki-Onna he hooked up with seven-hundred years ago but he didn't believe that General Winter would want him dead for such a petty reason! At least he thought... He remembered the world suffering huge storms, blizzards, and other natural disasters after that event... and then there was the bubonic plague...

He shook his head trying to rid his head of those thoughts. He was forgetting the real problem!

"'ello there mate."

Make that two problems. 

-x-

Everything was setting itself nicely _(this is not you Jack. Not you)_ and was going as planned, Jack _(not Jack) _thought. He looked to his side to see one of the mutated nightmares. When he went into the lair of Pitch Black he had been ambushed by the things. He had accidently frosted a few of them over and they had ended up obeying him. Funny how powerful his magic had become. Before he had only been able to slightly influence children into having fun, but now... _now _he could take _control _and _manipulate _the thoughts of others and apparently this extended to Nightmares _(I would never manipulate anyone! That's not me!). _

He glared at the thing which did not flinch in the slightest, instead trotting up next to him and nuzzling the frost sprite's hair. Jack laughed a bit before developing a serious look on his face. He allowed to the wind to let him go and he dropped slightly only to be caught by one of the... _Frostmares _as they could be accurately called now. He looked down at the structure below. In the back of his mind Jack thought that the place was beautiful _(too beautiful to tarnish. You can always turn back). _The winter spirit's eyes widened at his own thoughts before shaking his head like a wild dog and looking back down at the structure with a mournful look. He couldn't turn back. He knew that. He looked behind him and he saw all of the other Frostmares waiting diligently for his orders. He again looked down to see the small mini tooth's working hard but enjoying their work in every sense of the word.

He wasn't going to hurt them, he was only putting them to sleep... that was all. They were just going to be taking a small nap...

That he really really _really _hoped that they would be waking up from.

* * *

**Yay! This is chapter two, I'll post chapter three later... today.**

**Dani: I-**

**Anna: No! You are banned from here! You have nothing to do with this story! Bunnymund!**

**Dani: *Hole opens up beneath her* AHHHHH!**

**Jack:... Did you have to do that?**

**Anna: Yes. Now, what do you think about the story so far?**

**Jack: Why am I the villain!**

**Seraphina: Because I said so!**

**Anna: 0-0 Okay... bye!**

**Please review and ignore the reluctant Jack beside me *smiles sweetly***

**Jack: Why Anna, why!?**

**Anna: Blame the OP! **


	3. Ambushing Pitch

**Chapter 3- Rising Action: Ambushing Pitch**

* * *

Pitch snapped his head around to face the voice. He almost groaned. He didn't need a _guardian _fight at the moment! He had enough problems to deal with!

"What do you want _rabbit?" _The fearling man practically hissed as he could hear the voices in his head, telling him to rip the rabbit apart, limb by limb.

"Nothin' much. Just ta talk." Said guardian states as if it was a conversation they had all the time.

"To _talk._ Must I point out who I am to you or have you lost the rest of your small brain."

"Oy! You wouldn't want ah insult someone that could kick your butt at this point." The Pooka said, leaning against the brick wall of the building. Pitch grimaced. The idiot rabbit was right, he needed time to recuperate.

The nightmare under him huffed and padded around with unease, not liking the presence of the Guardian of Hope, obviously.

"Alright, let's talk." Pitch said, not realizing what he was getting himself into.

"Good. Then ya won't resist."

"Won't resist-"

"Boys, grab him."

Pitch looked behind him in time to see a Yeti reach out his hand and grab the collar of his robe. The think stuffed him into a big red sack and prepared to throw him into the portal that had been create only moments before. The nightmare had tried to put up a fight before realizing that it was no match for the Yeti and instead merged itself with the darkness of the alley. The two Yetis gestured to the portal, looking at Bunny.

"Hehehe... not on your nelly. I'll meet y'all back at the pole." The bipedal rabbit said before thumping his large foot and disappearing down the tunnel that was created.

The large creatures shrugged their shoulders before throwing the sack into the portal before hopping in themselves. Pitch felt extremely dizzy (and for some reason so do I) as he landed onto the carpet. He shook his head violently before punching the sack a few times before finding the exit and practically leaping out. He shook the sack off of his foot before kicking the abominable thing away from him. He then proceeded to go on muttering about annoying rabbits and stupid large monkeys before he took in where he was.

His eyes widened seeing the big four standing in front of him. He resisted the urge to do an awkward wave before shaking his head, clearing the last of the dizziness.

"Why... am I here? I swear that I haven't done anything... worthy of your attention." The Nightmare king said bitterly.

They looked at each other trying to single out who was going to tell him... whatever they were going to tell him. Apparently, Toothiana had lost and she made her path closer to Pitch as the others looked at her encouragingly.

"Pitch... Something, uhhh s-something has happened just r-recently." She stuttered looking back the guardians who again simply stared at her, Sandy making shooing motions to her.

"The North Pole was... attacked, as you can see." She said, finally getting it out as she gestured to the floor backing up.

It was only now that Pitch realized that there thousands upon _thousands _of sharp ice shards littering the ground. He looked at the fairy woman with a slightly confused, but mostly impassive look on his face.

"And... you want me to do what about it?" They again looked at each other before North decided to step up.

"Man in Moon has told us the name of a person who may help us. Pitch, that person was you."

Said man froze and he went wide eyed looking at each of the guardians who nodded at him as if confirming the statement.

That was when he did something completely unexpected, to them at least.

"BWAAHHHHAHAHAHAAAAA!" He chortled, wrapping his arms around his stomach and kneeling forward.

"Y-you want m-ME to help YOU! Oh my- haha!" The boogieman wouldn't stop laughing.

The others looked indigent. Tooth puffed out her cheeks. "We aren't joking Pitch! Jack Frost attacked the North Pole!" At this Pitch froze and all laughter seized.

He raised his head that had previously been down with a serious expression. "Jack Frost?" He practically spit out as he stood up straight, all traces of laughter gone.

He looked like he was going to explode at this point with the realization of who had frozen over his lair and stolen his nightmares. "You know each other?" North asked suspiciously.

"Of course I know him! He froze over my lair and stole all of my—" Pitch stopped before he could say 'nightmares'. The guardians didn't need to know that he had been planning an attack on them before all of this had happened.

"He attacked you too?" Bunnymund asked confused as the others looked at each other, not knowing what to say or what to do.

"And what did he steal?" The guardian of wonder asked and Pitch stiffened, not wanting to answer.

"He stole… my nightmares. It's something I perfected over the years. I only have one left, the one you found me riding." He said looking at the Pooka warrior.

Sandy seemed clench at the thought of Pitch's new capabilities, or old capabilities considering the fact that he had only one left. The others were left slightly disturbed but they didn't really see how they could do anything about it at the moment. That, and Pitch was, for the first time, not their enemy at the moment.

"Forget about nightmares right now. We all have a common enemy, Jack Frost, if he is too powerful to go after by yourself, why not join us to help bring him down?" North asked.

Pitch's eyes narrowed at the pure logic of the Cossack's statement. He wouldn't be able to go after Frost by himself in his somewhat weakened state. He could create new nightmares but that would take time, time he didn't have. He growled at himself and, against his better judgment, looked up at the guardians. Their faces were pleading, excluding Bunnymund's of course (he was too proud for that). Pitch couldn't resist.

"Fine. I will help you take him down. But not because I want to!" Pitch spit out while the guardians smiled in victory (besides Bunny who rolled his eyes).

That was when they heard chirping. Tooth looked at the fairies by her side and grew worried.

"What do you mean the others won't respond to you?" The remaining guardians looked at each other, not liking this new development and worried for Tooth.

"I… I have to get back to the Tooth Palace. Something's wrong…" Tooth said, sounding both surprised and somewhat horrified.

"What's goin' on shiela? 'hat are the mini tooth's sayin?" Bunny asked.

Tooth's wings seemed to droop. "They… said that their sisters were… cold." All of their eyes widened while Pitch stayed in the back sorting everything out in his mind.

"Frost." Bunny growled.

"We have no time to lose. To the sleigh!" North yelled and got moving. Pitch was already complaining.

"I said I would help, yes, but there is no way that I am going to be climbing in a rickety, old… sleigh?" His jaw dropped as he saw the new and improved sleigh come into view with the reindeers pulling it while Bunnymund started to feel a growing dread build in his stomach.

Pitch had seen the man's sleigh, but never up close, nor did he ever think that he would. Now the childish side of him was dying to ride in it.

"Fine, one ride." Pitch said as he climbed in and Bunnymund's eyes popped. He had seemed to be praying that Pitch would take some other form of transportation so that the Pooka wouldn't have to ride in the sleigh.

"Uhh… mate? I think I'll take my tunnels. It'll be faster… and safer." Bunnymund muttered hitting the sleigh with his foot once before attempting to walk in. That was, before he was grabbed by his scruff and pulled into the sleigh against his will.

"Buckle up!" North yelled as the others smirked, already having gotten into the sleigh.

"Where are the bloody seatbelts?" Bunnymund exclaimed, extremely scared at this point. Pitch snickered, now knowing a new was to torture the Pooka in his nightmares while the so called warrior didn't notice anything besides his own fear of heights.

"That was just expression." North chuckled as he ushered the reindeer forward with a strike of his whip.

Bunny closed his eyes in fear as the sleigh picked up speed. There was one word for North's driving. It was _terribilis. _He was reckless and it seemed like every turn would be the end for them. Despite this, the nightmare king found himself having _fun. _He smiled big and wide, and without realizing it gave power to someone they did _not _want to give power to. But that wasn't the only thing it did.

There is something that very few realize. Fear can be combated by many things. Wonder, good memories, dreams, and hope but fear is always present in each of these elements. However there is one element that can live and feed on fear and continue to grow in its presence while everything else would wilt and disappear. And that was fun. Most things that were fun had an element of danger in it. When a child was having fun, they felt no fear. Period. Fun, _destroys _fear. And so someone who is practically made of fear having _fun. _Not a good thing for the fearlings that reside within him. They can't touch him while he has fun. They can't remind him that he is _hated, _and that the guardians were just _using _him. And as long as he continued to have fun, they had no voice, no influence and if the Nightmare king has no influences from fearlings… the Nightmare king, will cease to _be _the Nightmare king.

Instead he will become as he was millions of years ago.

The Great General of the Constellations

The Hero and Savior of the Golden Ages

Kozmotis Pitchiner,

Seraphina's father.

-x-

Everything was set up. Jack could _feel _how happy Pitch was. He could _feel _the joy radiating from him. He smiled, not smirked, but smiled. If he was to calculate right, Seraphina would have her father back within a fortnight.

He heard a little squeal come from behind him and he turned his head to somewhere behind him, confused. What was that? He had thought that none of the mini Tooths would have been able to stand his cold. That was when he noticed that there was a passenger in his hoodie. The said passenger crawled out and perched itself on his shoulder. He turned his head to see the small figure staring up at him with multicolored eyes. How was it able to crawl into his hoodie without him noticing? He felt slightly disturbed at the way she was looking up at him. She looked star struck. That's when he realized that the thing was looking at his teeth and he groaned.

She ruffled her feathers and curled up into his hoodie, looking up at him with the cutest look she could muster. Jack's lip trembled in an effort to control himself. He blushed frost.

_I want to keep her. _He thought.

"Uhhmmm… You do realize that I'm the bad guy… right?" He asked pointing to himself.

The fairy chirped in reply. The thing was lucky that he could naturally talk in all languages that were fae related or else he would've been completely lost. His jaw dropped at the little tooth's bold proclamation.

_'Nothing with those teeth could be evil.'_

* * *

**HAHAHAHAAHA!**

**Thank you so much OP for the hilarious idea with baby tooth hehehe...**

**And by the way, I'm extremely influenced by the idea that Jack is a fae that is a part of the Unseelie court but likes to stay out of their affairs unless they are extremely important.**

**It would also make sense why no other winter spirits would've contacted him in his 300 years solitude because he has such a different personality and has some Summer (benevolent) fae in him. Imagine how proud the Winter Court would be if they found out about this.**

**(*Winter Lady sniffles* 'That's my boy')**

**Please forgive me for any mistakes I made...**


	4. The Tooth Palace

Chapter 4- Rising Action: The Tooth Palace

* * *

North didn't bother to wait even a minute before taking out his snow globe and transporting them all to the Tooth Palace. The Guardians and Pitch couldn't believe what they saw.

Ice, so much ice. Trails and paths of it tangled and braided in the air, making it hard for the large sleigh to move correctly, but it was perfect for a human of much smaller stature.

_Frost_, they all thought as they looked around in horror, Tooth especially.

It was extremely quiet, unlike before when there were the sound of thousands of chirps filling the air and hummingbird wings flitting around in the light wind. The surroundings were morbidly beautiful and Bunnymund caught himself just in time from commenting on the craftsmanship. North quickly lost control of the sleigh after accidently banging into one of the twisted paths of ice and a few of the guardians tumbled as the sleigh came to a stop on one of the large pieces of ice that served as the sleigh's landing post. Tooth immediately jumped out of the sleigh and took off through the maze of ice.

"Tooth!" Bunny yelled getting out of the sleigh, wincing slightly when the ice came in contact with his feet.

Sandy looked around, confused. He touched the ice and found it rigid to his touch. Jack Frost didn't have ice like this. Maybe it wasn't him? Sandy had seen Jack Frost. The boy had seemed… happy, content... not jealous or bitter.

"Ahhh!" They heard a shriek and looked to the source of the noise. It had sounded like Tooth!  
They all made their way as quickly as they could through the interweave jungle of ice. At one point they came to a point where it was completely clear of ice. One problem. It was like a cliff turning into a slide and leading to the beginning of the buildings in the Tooth palace. Basically, it could mean injury if they weren't careful. Bunny came across it first, the most lithe and flexible of the guardians besides Tooth.

"Mates, don't come any closer. We've hit a dead end." He said backing up slightly.  
"What? Come closer?" Bunny's eyes widened when he heard North say that.

"No!" He yelled as they came out of the forest of ice and tumbled down the ice cliff. They all screamed as they tumbled down the ice slide.

While the Guardians (beside Sandy) were screaming, Pitch was fighting off a smile. Why did he find this fun? Man in Moon must have been messing with his head.

They were all tangled and disoriented when they hit the end of the slide that had apparently had a few loop de loops (Why did he bother to make something so similar to a children's water park slide in the first place?). Pitch held back a laugh as he stood up shaking himself off. What was wrong with him? He was the Nightmare King! A Man who fed off of fear yet here he was trying to hold back the feeling of _joy_. He shook his head, disgusted with himself.

That was when he saw.

The Tooth palace was covered in thick frost, making the original color hard to see and the air was frigid. The guardians shivered, even North with his large coat. They saw Tooth on the ground holding something in her hands as she sobbed. The guardians rushed to her, asking what had happened while Pitch lagged behind taking in the sights. He was honestly impressed. The Frost sprite was powerful, he would give him that, but where were the mini teeth that he had heard so much about and had the utmost _pleasure_ of meeting a few centuries back. He merged with the shadows and emerged at another part of the palace. The atmosphere… reeked of loneliness and abandonment. It wasn't something that Pitch was unfamiliar with; after all, he did live with it almost every day of his damned existence. The normally bright skies of the fortress were covered with heavy gray snow clouds.

He attempted to take a step forward and he heard a small squeal as he almost stepped on something. He looked down to see what looked like a little hummingbird, a heavily frostbitten hummingbird. He kneeled down and cupped the little thing in his hands. It was not shivering and lay as still as death. The only thing that showed that it was alive was the rising and falling of its chest and it's rapidly beating heart, trying to keep it alive. Pitch was slightly horrified as to what had become of this creature. It's usually rosy skin were as pale as the Yuki-onna of Japan (Snow women) with a deep blue that tinted their face. The small thing felt solid with the frost covering her body and small icicles clung to her feathers and her eyes, making it impossible for her to open them. Pitch looked around and realized that there were thousands of others in the same condition, including the one that the past Warrior queen held in her hand.

Pitch didn't know what to say or what to do. He was at a complete loss. Hadn't this been what he had wanted. He had been going to trap these little… creatures (he couldn't say pests when he looked at these beings…) in cages but he wouldn't have _killed_ them.

But they weren't dead, they were asleep and they couldn't dream. For all he knew, they could sleep for a thousand years and never realize that any time had passed.

"I see that you've found the present that I left for you. Do you like it?" They all heard and all their heads rose in surprise, and then fury.

"How dare you…. how dare you hurt my fairies like this! Show yourself you coward!" She screamed in fury and despair as she stood up, still clenching the small mini tooth in her hand as her wings moved rapidly.

He stepped out from behind one of the statues and Pitch was surprised to see the change.  
He wore what looked like a long sleeved black shirt that was cut open at his neck and part of his small shoulders that had seemed so broad with his frost covered hoodie, exposing the bones and showing how skinny he was. Unlike his hoodie, only his sleeves were covered with frost. He had apparently ditched the three hundred year old pants and gone for more modern black skinny jeans with many rips on them and stopped ,like his old pants, high above his ankle. Surprisingly, he was wearing a red/black cross rosary around his neck that hung just under his collar bone. His face seemed much… darker, yet pale at the same time and Pitch swore that the skin around his eyes looked darker and his cheek bones more sharp and pronounced (one could say they looked slightly sunken: his cheeks)

**Small side story (I don't know if this was a good idea or not.):**

"No Seraphina! I'm drawing the line at this!"

"Do you WANT to look like the bad guy or not?!"

"Yes but I don't want to wear MAKE-UP! KEEP THAT BLACK STUFF AWAY FROM ME!" Jack yelled as he ran away from the crazy woman in the green dress and flowing black hair as she chased him around holding dark skin foundation and black eye shadow.

"GET OVER HERE AND TAKE IT LIKE A MAN!"

"NO! I'M ALREADY WEARING THESE CLOTHES YOU GOT ME! ISN'T THAT ENOUGH?" He yelled as he tripped over the half on pants that he had been putting on when she had ambushed him with the make-up.

"NO! YOU'RE WEARING THE MAKE-UP WETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! AND PUT ON YOUR PANTS!"

"LEAVE ME ALONNNNNEEEE!"

**(End of side story. Don't think that Jack looks how he does and is happy about it.)**

"How nice to see you all like this." Jack said with a blank face, completely cold and unfeeling though on the inside he was hitting himself upside the head thinking over and over again that he was a complete and total moron.

Pitch tried to see past Jack's outer layer but there were mental barriers that prevented him from doing so. It was truly strange and he could tell that the magical signature of the person who created the barrier was familiar but he couldn't place his finger on it.

"How dare you Frost! We've done nothing to ya!" Bunny yelled taking out his Boomerang and pointing it at the Winter Spirit.

He scoffed as he dropped off the high structure he had appeared on and landed on another one that was a few levels higher than the guardians.

"Done nothing? I beg to differ. If you call completely ignoring me doing nothing than we might have a qualm with that." He said, not looking at the guardians and walking with conviction as he disappeared behind another structure.

They were surprised to hear his voice coming from behind them, inside one of the domes.

"And who is this? You have got to be kidding me. Pitch Black? The Boogieman?" Jack cackled.  
The Nightmare king glared as Jack smirked slightly before his face went back to impassive stone.

"Not that he'd be any help. If I recall, I took out your entire army." Pitch growled.

"I do not need Nightmares to defeat someone like you."

Jack raised a delicate, black eyebrow at that. He turned away, disappearing in a flurry. That was how he was traveling, by turning his body into snow and teleporting? He landed on a railing bar with his knee tucked into his chest, the other hanging and his staff held over his shoulders by both arms.

"Oh really? I didn't think you had any other power besides that, after all, you have no belief to back up your power." He smirked.

"Why you- come here you up sprite!" He said bounding up the buildings to get closer to the Frost child.

The boy merely laughed and dematerialized as Bunny reached out to grab him by his neck. The winter prince appeared behind him smirking and pushed the pooka off of the railing he had landed on. The Pooka screamed as he fell with a loud clatter onto one of the lower dome's side supports.

Jack landed onto a nearby structure that was much higher than where the Guardians stood, laughing almost merrily, as they regrouped. Was this a joke to him?! They thought, slightly irritated. Tooth grabbed one of North's swords and flew forward screaming.  
That was when Jack played his trump card.

Tooth gasped as one of the stolen Nightmares, now Frostmare, came forward snarling and bucking. Tooth fell back in fear as they all looked at the demon horse in surprise. Pitch who was far behind all of them snarled at seeing his twisted creation.

"Familiar Sandman?" Jack asked, sampling some of the sand that remained unfrozen on the horse.

Sandman looked at his own sand in his hand and looked up at Jack with confused, but not angry eyes as he tried to find out what was going on. He didn't believe that Jack would do this. He had seen the boy. He was just a child! A child with the heart of gold and would do things that others would refuse to… Sandman's eyes widened in realization. Jack wasn't doing this of his freewill. He looked at the other Guardians whose hateful eyes remained on Jack. He decided that he would play along until he found out the whole story. He didn't know what would happen if Jack's plan didn't go out as followed. And no one would listen to him anyway…

"Originally it was all Nightmare sand which I have to say thank you to Pitch Black for. I wonder how long it took you to perfect this trick… turning dreams into nightmares…" He said petting the horse's muzzle, calming it down slightly.

Pitch glared. "You had no right."

"And neither did you! I'm tired of being walked through! Tired of being ignored! Why should some self centered _spirits_ have something that I haven't had the pleasure of having once!

I tried to be good. I tried to bring joy to kids, hoping that one day I would be seen. But after three hundred _long_ years I finally realized that it would _never_ happen. I don't care how I am believed in. I don't care! As long as someone can see me, look at me, and not _ignore_ me, I don't care." He said, glaring at the guardians with extreme emotions in his eyes. They almost felt sorry for him, almost.

"Maybe you don't deserve to be seen." Bunny growled glaring with a betrayed look in his eyes.

"Oh suck an egg rabbit." Jack rolled his eyes disappearing behind the pillar, the Frostmare following behind.

North took back his sword from Tooth. "What have you done to the little tooths?"

"I didn't kill them if that's what you mean. They are just sleeping… for the moment. Just be happy I didn't destroy your precious teeth containers." _I have nowhere to keep them anyway_ Jack thought miserably.

Tooth gasped in horror, putting her hand over her mouth.

"You are horrid boy Jack Frost, this is why you are on Naughty List!" North exclaimed pointing his sword at where Jack stood, leaning against the golden structure.

"Ha! Does it look like I care? But freezing the fairies have done their purpose. Look around you." And sure enough the palace was starting to disintegrate.

"Children are waking up and finding out, that the Tooth fairy never came. Such a small thing… but to a child."

_A little girl sat on her bed looking at the tooth in her hand with confusion and sadness as her light went out.  
A boy removed his pillow with an excited grin only to find that the tooth had never been taken._

Tooth's eyes were wide when she realized,

"They—They don't believe in me anymore." She said looking down to her hands, to the frozen baby tooth, and fell to her knees.

"It must be great to be a guardian. Fading as soon as a fickle child's beliefs fade. Soon there won't be anything. No toys on Christmas, no eggs on Easter, and no little fairies collecting teeth at night. There will only ever be the cold, and me.

It's your turn not to be believed in, to be ignored and feel despair." Jack said with a cold face as he turned away from them, climbed onto his Frostmare and taking off.

The others tried to catch him, they really did…. but they couldn't.

-x-

Jack groaned as he climbed off of the horse and landed in front of the sealed door of Seraphina's 'burrow' or Sanctuary like she called it. The door swung open as he proceeded to try and get the horrid make-up off of his face.

"I SWEAR BY THIS SERA! YOU OWE ME BIG TIME!" He yelled and looked at his hands finding no blacks from the make-up fading.

"Does this come off?" He whimpered.

"Oh stop being such a baby. I made it so that it would only come off with a special substance." Mother Nature said appearing behind him as he was about to start crying from frustration.

"Can I _please_ take this off?" He pleaded with her.

"Is my father back yet?" Jack remained quiet.

"Then no." She said and walked off.

Jack groaned. What had he gotten himself into? He looked into his hood to see the mini tooth pop out of his hood and look at him with scolding eyes.

"What?" He sighs and runs his hands through his silver hair.

"Look, I'm sorry for doing that to your sisters, they'll survive! Oww! Do you want to join them?!" He exclaimed when she stabbed his hand.

She continued to glare as he glared at the little fairy one his shoulder. She squeaked something out.

_Someones going to get really hurt in the end. You can always stop_

The Frost boy sighed. First his conscience, now a tooth fairy with a sharp beak.

"No one's going to get hurt. Belief can always be recovered. You'll see! Everything will be fine."

Even he could hear the doubt in his own voice.

* * *

**Ya... the story is probably going to be in Rising Action for a while... **

**I hope the OP liked this :)**  
**And I'm not sure if I should have added the dramatic irony in there or not though...**

**Jack: I'm scared now... and wait, what happened to the sentinels that were sent to find out what happened to Sera!**

**Anna: You'll find out later now hush!**

**Seraphina: Thank you for reading and please review!**


	5. Collect the Teeth!

**Chapter 5- Rising Action: Collect the Teeth!**

* * *

All of the guardians remained silent as they came to a stop in the grove. It was the remaining thing in the palace that had not started to dissolve or had been affected by the frost. Tooth was on the ground, still holding onto the frozen baby tooth, trying to warm her up but failing.

Bunny was kneeling on the ground, his face scrunched up. North was next to him while Pitch stayed to the side fuming slightly.

"My own nightmares… how dare he use my own nightmares against me! Though I don't think they can be called nightmares anymore." He growled as his final obeying nightmare finally decided to come out of the shadow and trot next to him (you were probably wondering where it went huh?)

"Is that…?" North asked looking at Bunny who nodded before looking back down at the ground.

"What happens now?" Tooth asked, looking up pleadingly at her friends.

"The teeth are still here, but he froze all of the mechanisms and the teeth containers. I can't touch them without the frost trying to crawl on my skin." They looked at each other with guilty faces.

"What are so important about the teeth?" Pitch asked walking closer to them though the Nightmare decided to stay back, most likely due to Sandman.

"You don't know?" North asked as they all stared at Pitch making the Nightmare king feel slightly nervous.

"I just know that they have some importance, I… never really found any interest in finding out what they idid/i." He said, feeling slightly shamed at being older than most of them and not knowing something as silly as this.

"The teeth hold the greatest and most important of childhood memories."

She said flying up to the mural in front of the pond. Pitch stepped onto the water's surface using his shadows to keep him up as he looked at the wall. The tooth fairy was to one side and the other were children who held their hands and arms out. Then there were the teeth in the middle.

"When a child forgets or loses their way we help them… It's a part of what I protect. We have everyone's teeth here, except for yours of course. You are after all older than most of us."

Pitch looked at the Queen in confusion.

"My teeth? What in the world do you mean by that? I never lost any teeth." He said looking at her with skepticism.

"What do you mean you never lost teeth? I mean before you were Pitch Black. You were something before you were him, weren't you?" The woman's feathers ruffled slightly in confusion as her eyes narrowed.

"I wasn't anything before I was Pitch Black."

"Baaa! Oh course you were!" They looked over their shoulders to see that it had been North who had spoke.

"Ya really don't remember who ya were?" Bunny asked. He knew that Pitch had emerged from a human in the constellation during the Golden Ages. Beyond that, he knew little to nothing about the Nightmare king.

Pitch looked at them all strangely as he tried to remember his very first memory.

Black and darkness. That was his first memory. He remembered liking the feeling of what was running through his veins and the mantra that had been running through his mind like locus.

iKill the light, destroy it! That's what you were created for! Destroy the light! Destroy the light!/i

And that was when he had gone on his killing spree. Somewhere in the back of his mind he had heard a plea, a scream for him to stop. He remembered how… human the voice had sounded at the time but he found that over time it had become silent. There were, however, a few times in the last few years where it would either tease him with cruel sayings or simply talk to him about different things. Asking his opinion on things, asking what the modern world was like, and other things.

The voice… could it be?

He had always thought that… he was nothing but darkness… but was he?

Could there have been something before the darkness?

"Oi! Earth to Pitch!" He snapped out of his reverie as he saw the rabbit staring at him with an almost iconcerned/i look. He shook it off as his imagination.

Pitch refused to look at the rabbit.

"Bunny! Didn't you say that you sent one of your stone eggs to see Seraphina?" North asked trying to break the tension between all of them.

"Oh ya! One of my googies should've come now to give me the message… that or she should've come to see me herself." He said scratching his chin.

"Wait, who is Seraphina?" Pitch asked. For some reason the name made his heart clench.

"Mother Nature, she usually controls her spirits pretty well." Tooth said.

For now Pitch's problems with his past memories would be put aside. It was not like they had a choice especially when they felt a cold wind followed by a much hotter wind. They immediately tensed and held up their weapons in preparation.

"Calm yerselves Guardians, and Pitch Black." They heard a female voice with a dutch accent and were surprised to see two people.

One was a girl with crazy red hair wearing an old style seaweed green dress and a practically glowing red bow slung across her shoulder and the other was a boy who had short brunet hair and had a cape of different colored autumn leaves. He wore a fur vest above a green shirt. He had one metal prosthetic leg and the other was covered with a fur boot.

"Autumn and Summer?" Bunny gasped as they walked forward.

They were both about as old as the earth itself though they came from civilizations that were more… recent. They both nodded.

"Winter has gone overboard. And Sera can't do anything about it." Autumn said with a serious face.

"What do ya mean she can't do anything about it! She's Mother Nature for mim's sake!" Bunny said but didn't dare to get closer to the powerful duo.

"Frost froze the door to her sanctuary. No one can get in and no one can get out. We've tried to melt it, trust us, but… we couldn't." Summer said waving her hands a bit.

"Oh no. This isn't good." Tooth gasped putting her hands to her mouth and tucking her legs up a bit.

"Why was it you that came? Why not one of your minor sprites?" North asked pointing his blade at them.

"Do you not understand the severity of this situation you door knobs? It's Winter that's rebelling against your and iour/i rule! He could tip the balance and the world could be destroyed from blizzards, avalanches, and other natural disasters! The seasons are a delicate balance and Seraphina keeps us in line. Without her, we can't do anything! Our powers are weak as it is!" Summer cried slightly hysterical as Autumn put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Winter hasn't given his powers over the Seasons over the Spring yet so he is still all powerful. We can't do anything to fight against him. We came because we needed you to understand what could happen if Winter was to win. There would be no Spring, no Summer, no Autumn! Everything will be stuck in everlasting winter and there is a great chance that the humans could all die!" Autumn exclaimed, stepping forward.

"Humans have survived Ice Ages before, what would be so different about this one?" Pitch asked.

"Ha! The Ice Ages was something that the former Winter created with a flick of his finger! Frost is putting a lot of power into this and what does that tell you?" The Spirit of summer exclaimed.

Pitch's eyes widened. If Frost won… this world would seem to have been better off in the dark.

"What do you expect us to do! We usually only fight Pitch!" North said pointing at the Boogieman who looked slightly offended.

"Hey!" He exclaimed holding out his arms.

"We expect you to fight him! We can't! We're too busy trying to free Mother!" Summer nearly yelled. They were all very frustrated at this point.

Tooth went to say something when she felt a few of her feathers fall out. She looked down at her beautiful plumage and back at the fallen feathers on the grass in dread.

"Oh no… the children. It's too late…" That was when the mural started to dissolve; the beautifully colored stone turning gray and rough and like the paint, the hope of the Tooth Fairy began to drain from her.

Pitch felt something running through him. It took him a moment to realize that it was dread, horror. The thing that he had only ever given. The feeling pumped through his veins and made his blood turn cold. Or warmer, depends on who you were asking.

"No! No, Never too late!" The cry surprised them all as they turned to North who looked furious, yet determined. The man fidgeted and his blue eyes widened and he pointed his sword at Bunny's neck, most likely by accident, hopefully.

"Idea! We collect the teeth!" The man exclaimed waving his swords around before putting them to his sides when the Warrior queen flew to his side.

"What?! We're talking continents, millions of kids!"

"Please, do you know how many presents I deliver in one night?" The Jolly man boast as Tooth seemed to brighten up.

"And how many eggs I hide in one day?" Bunny pointed to himself with a smirk on his face.

They looked behind them to see Pitch looking at the ground. He looked up when he realized that there were eyes with him and seemed to hold a disbelieving look in his eyes.

"Pitch?" North questioned motioning for him to join them.

Pitch rolled his eyes before nodding. His conscience was back. The Nightmare king thought that he had gotten rid of it years ago.

When the Guardians grinned at each other looking away from Pitch something seemed to happen. Pitch's eyes flickered to a soft brown and some of his black hair seemed to grow longer and flatten against his head. He smiled slightly and before the guardians could notice his eyes had turned back to their normal silver though his hair remained the new length.

Sandman looked at Pitch confused. The man looked different somehow…

He eventually shrugged and looked away figuring that he could deal with whatever the change was at a different time.

"We will go back to the entrance of Mother's Sanctuary. Good luck." The two seasonal spirits disappeared with a swirl of leaves, leaving behind nothing.

"Ok mates, let's get to work!" Bunny exclaimed as they got going.

-x-

Jack looked behind the platform from where he hid. He had returned in enough time to hear that they would be collecting the teeth themselves. He tsked and looked around worriedly as he dropped down onto the grass. He looked onto the dissolving mural and let out a sad sigh.

He was upset, there was no doubt. The Frost prince didn't want to destroy anything so pretty but… what choice did he have? He couldn't refuse ithe/i Mother Nature. And if he failed… He shivered thinking what she would do to him if he failed. He looked at his clothing and grimaced. There was a reason he wore a baggy hood. He poked at his ribs and flinched at how little fat there was between skin and bone.

He sat down on the pond after he had iced it over. One of his Frostmares which were seemingly losing their Nightmarish appearances as time passed. The fangs remained like when he had first changed the creatures but now the wings made it look more like a dark Pegasus rather than when it had bat wings. It was slowly changing according to his core. It felt emotions and seemed to be able to feel sympathy on its own. The thing nudged the back of it's masters head before coming closer and nudging the side of the Frost child's head. Jack grabbed the Frostmares muzzle gently and put his head against the side.

These animals were the best company he had ever had; maybe Seraphina would let him keep a few of them when this was all over. The horse nickered and just kept it's head in place as Jack entered his thoughts.

_"We keep everyone's memories here…"_

"What did she mean by that… what do you think Icicle?" The horse whinnied as it shook it's head up and down.

Jack laughed and blushed slightly like the child he was, delighted by the simple action of the horse.

"Could it be… that I was someone before I was Jack Frost…? No, I wasn't anyone before I was Jack Frost." He warred with himself as he pulled himself up.

He heard chirping which broke him out of his reverie. He looked behind him to see Baby tooth.

"What?" She was giving the puppy face.

"What?!" He asked again. He was starting to get a bit disturbed.

_Could you please let me go back to my mother? I promise that I won't tell her !_

…He really needed to learn how to say no.

-x-

Hundreds of miles away in the city of Tokyo five unseen spirits were hopping from house to house, collecting teeth in the place of the little hummingbird like creatures.

"Quickly! Quickly!" The proclaimed Santa Claus exclaimed as he hopped through chimney after chimney.

He was followed by the Easter Bunny who hopped from roof to roof and the Boogieman by riding on Onyx. The Shadow man was allowing his more childish side to take over at the moment.

"Come one rabbit! Keep up!" Pitch yelled as his Nightmare threw back it's head and flew through the air.

"Ya, ho! I'd tell you stay out of my way but what's the point! You won't be able to keep up anyway!"

"Do I hear a challenge?" Pitch asked mischievously.

"Oh… you don't want to race a rabbit mate." With that he sped ahead and Pitch smirked as he beckoned his ride to move master.

What they didn't know however, was that a certain Winter spirit decided to watch the fun. He hid behind a building as he watched them zoom ahead. He jumped up and down before one of his Frostmares grabbed him by his sleeve before he zoomed forward and did something he would regret.

"Aww… I wish I was Pitch…" He pouted as he looked at the mare in front of him who whinnied, the horse equivalent of laugh. He put his hands on his hip as he saw a radio CD-player in one of the window sills and smirked, flying to the thing.

He flew into the room and searched through the cds next to the player and the baby tooth flew in front of him squeaking something out.

"I'm going to add some more fun to this. Help me pick out a cd!" He smiled wide and Baby tooth giggled, taking one out and waving it in front of his face.

"ohh! I love this one!" He exclaimed in a whisper as he put the CD in and pressed play, sealing the pause and play button with ice. He giggled as he went up onto the roof of the house.

_Ooh, oh yeah yeah_  
_Oooh yeah yeah_

North paused and looked around in confusion. Pitch had a 'wtf' look on his face.

_I need a tough lover, yeah yeah yeah_  
_I need a, a tough lover, woo_

"Ignore. Must be someone up late at night playing loud music." North said as the others went on though everyone could see the extra sway in Tooth's hips.

_I need a, a tough lover, yeah yeah yeah_  
_A tough lover, ooh yeah_

Jack swayed his hips to the music as he giggled with Baby tooth trying to mimic his movements.

_When he kisses me, I get that thrill_  
_When he does that wiggle I won't keep still_

Jack kicked his feet in the air as he danced to the music, giggling the whole time. How the other Guardians never heard him, no one knew.

_I wanna a tough lover (yeah, yeah)_  
_A tough lover (woo)_  
_I need a tough lover (yeah, yeah)_  
_Tough lover (hum, hum)_

On the other hand, maybe not all of the Guardians hadn't seen him. Sandy was staring at Jack as the boy swayed his hips like a woman, laughing with the small Tooth Fairy next to him. The Sandman did only one thing. He pulled out a video camera and started to record the whole thing.

_The seven sisters got nothing on him_  
_I'm talking about a lover who's fast as the wind_

Even the Bunny had an extra hop as he listened to music.

"This is my favorite song!" North yelled before jumping into another chimney. Bunny flattened his ears before guffawing, bending down trying to collect himself.

_Everyone will talk about how he got me fixed_  
_It ain't voodoo, it's just that twist_

Pitch smirked, his finger raised in the air as he dove into the closed window of a child with a tooth to be collected.

_He will be the greatest lover that ever come to pass_  
_Don Juan ain't got the half the chance_

Jack laughed swaying his hips and clapping in time to the beats, no one listening besides the Sandman and his Frostmares who were practically hysterical from laughing (Or in Sandman's case, silent laughter).

_He's a tough lover (yeah, yeah)_  
_A tough lover (woo)_  
_He's a tough lover (yeah, yeah)_  
_A tough lover (oh oh)_

"Oi mates, where's Sandy?" Bunny asked as he looked up, just having come up from a football kid's room.

Tooth shrugged, still swaying her hips to the music that was going through the whole neighborhood.

_Hey, hey, heyah_  
_He'll make me laugh, he'll make me cry_

_He'll be so tough he'll make Venus come alive_  
_He'll do anything that he wants to do_  
_Step on Jesse James's blue suede shoes, yeah_

Jack jumped onto a different roof and did a strut laughing as Baby tooth flew faster to keep up with him. The little Man made of sand decided that he had seen enough and closed the video camera, flying away. He was slightly annoyed when he realized he had very few teeth in his bag.

_A tough lover (yeah, yeah)_  
_A tough lover (woo)_  
_A tough lover (yeah, yeah)_  
_A tough lover (hey yeah, yeah yeah)_  
_A tough lover (yeah, yeah)_  
_A tough lover (yeah, yeah)_  
_A tough lover (oh oh)_

Jack let out cry as the last cord struck before sliding down a short pole on one of the houses and sitting himself down on the side of the roof, high fiving the little tooth before nudging her in the direction of the other Guardians. She hugged Jack once (his cheek really...) before zooming off.

It only took a few moments for the high of the music to die down and for the frost child to realize that the little Baby Tooth had gone. He sighed as he cupped his cheeks, his elbows on his knees. He sighs.

"Good Luck little tooth..." He said raising himself and dropping from the roof and onto the street.

He looked up to see the radio that had apparently frosted over the rest of the way. He shrugged deciding to leave it to the confused teen who had come in to see that her cd player was ruined.

_"一体何が私のプレイヤーに起こった！"_ The Japanese girl inside the room screamed as Jack laughed and iced the rest of her window sill while flying past it.

* * *

**0-0 ummm… I have an excuse for this…**

**I was listening to Tough Lover by Christina Aguilera. Trust me, if you are on the computer, you should listen to it while reading that part too :) **

**Link on my profile or you can search it...**

**I think I put _too_ much humor in this…**

**Oh well, I hope all you people liked this! Forgive me for the mistakes I made…**

**Jack:... How long is this going to last?**

**Anna:...I actually don't know...**

**Review Responses:**

**Candle Dark:... May I remind you that Jack doesn't want to do this...? I can tell you that you probably won't expect certain parts of the outcome...**

**Guest: Hehehe... Thank you! Jack just can't say no. He needs to be more assertive (but that is his weak point...)**

**AyameKitsune: Thank you for all of the reviews previous and yes I am now posting them here and most likely later on on deviantart :)**

**Please review and thank you for reading!**


	6. Bye Bye Sandy

**I'm so upset... I'm not joking, I nearly cried when I realized that my mom deleted the sixth chapter that I had spent hours typing up.**

**Now I have to retype it which I am incredibly annoyed to do and it is something I really don't _want_ to do either. But I'll do it anyway.**

**Rising Action: Chapter 6: Bye Bye Sandy**

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All of the guardians felt light and without burden probably for the first time in years. After the music stopped they couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. Though they did wonder about the Japanese girl who had been screaming about something...

They eventually shrugged it off and continued with their collecting of teeth. It took them a while to realize that they had forgotten to leave gifts. Even then, it became even more of a competition.

North and Bunny got stuck in one of the pooka's rabbit holes and Sandy taunted them with the tooth he got.

Bunny made Pitch fall into one of his holes.

North did a whole Christmas decor, much to Sandy's annoyance.

Then there was when Bunny turned on the fireplace in one of the fireplaces and... well, you get the picture.

Pitch too got revenge on Bunny by making his remaining nightmare kick the Pookan warrior in the face with its hind legs.

The Nightmare king was also becoming less nightmarish as time passed. His skin was beginning to lighten from the previous dark grey though it was still very much that color. At least, most of him. The elder's right hand had turned a natural tan though he never noticed. His hair was taking on a more natural look whereas before it had looked to be spiked with some type of cheap hair jell and his eyes were losing the eerie shine that struck fear into the hearts of children.

In one of their gatherings Sandy seemed to notice the changes with wide eyes. He battled with himself on telling Pitch of the development before deciding to let the Boogieman find out for himself. The man must have been truly blind because he never noticed the changes. All of them had eventually split up and decided to take different areas and meet up in one place.

Many hours later, Pitch and Tooth found themselves at the last child's house in Burgess. A child going by the name of Jaime Bennett.

"Left central incisor, knocked out in a freak sledding accident. I wonder how that happened?" Tooth mused as she put the quarter under the child's pillow.

"This was my favorite part, seeing the kids."

Pitch watched as the fairy hovered over the child with a sad look on her face and for some reason his heart clenched.

"Why did I ever stop doing this?" She asked herself, wrapping her hands around her chest.

"It's a bit different up close isn't it?" He asked smoothly, but carefully as to not make her snap at him.

She sighed looking up at him. "I know this may not mean much to you Pitch but... thank you for being her. For us and for the children..." She said straightening up and looking at him with big curious eyes.

"You've changed..." She said and his eyes snapped back to her in surprise and confusion (they were previously on Jaime).

"Changed?" He asked softly, which surprised him.

Usually he would reply with some type of snarky comment but he couldn't bring himself to do something like that... What was wrong with him? He was the King of Nightmares, he shouldn't be soft!

But even after reminding himself he still couldn't bring himself to say anything cruel or harsh.

"You seem... less... I don't know, spirteful, cruel? You're eyes, they are changing. They're more gentle, still sharp and keen but... I don't know but for some reason they remind me of my father's..." She whispered the last part.

Before he could reply they heard chirping. Neither expected for a remaining Baby Tooth to fly into the room and straight into it's mother.

"Oh! One of you is alright? How?! Nevermind, I don't care how, I only care that you are here now." The mother tooth clutched the precious collector in her hands.

Pitch watched and couldn't help but feel that there was something strange about the whole situation. How had the baby tooth escaped the freezing cold of the Tooth Palace? Could the palace have thawed out within time or had this one been able to wake itself up long enough for it to unfreeze itself?

Though... the Baby Tooth didn't seem like it had been hurt. It didn't even have any small touches Frostbite.

That was when they heard a noise. Both turned around to see North and Sandy come in. Tooth shushed them, pointing to the boy still fast asleep in his bed. North shrugged his shoulders with a big red bag slung behind him.

"What gives slow pokes? How are you feeling Toothy?" He asked looking at the large Fairy .

"Believed in." She replied, her feathers ruffling as she flew towards North with Pitch in tow. North laughed silently before he saw the Baby tooth.

"Is that a Baby tooth? Ha! Where did she come from?" He asked pointing to the little creature who was shying away from the man.

"I actually don't know but I figure that we can find out later." Tooth said before a voice came from behind.

"Of course. Gang up to make sure the rabbit is last." The final guardian said in a way that made them question if he was kidding or not. North took the latter.

"Bahh! You are too sensitive." The large man said dismissively.

"I am not!" The rabbit replied in indignation.

"You are."

"Not!"

"Are."

"I am not!"

"Will you two be quiet or I'll put you both on time out!" They turned to see Pitch glaring at them. For some reason the look in his eyes made them feel… ashamed.

Tooth giggled putting her hand over her mouth while Pitch realized only a few moments later exactly what he had just done. Even then he acted as if it was a natural response and put his hand over his forehead.

"Why do I feel like I have done this before?" Pitch asked looking to Tooth who was giggling along with Sandman (silently) who went to float beside Pitch.

Bunny's ears flattened even more in embarrassment. In hopes of trying to change to subject, and his humiliation he held up his bag.

"Show yer bags people! I bet I got the most!" Bunny exclaimed and Pitch rolled his eyes.

"Bunny please, it is not contest! This is about Tooth!" Pitch looked at North appraisingly. Maybe the man had more class and maturity than he had thought.

"But if it was, I win." Forget it. Pitch hit himself in the face. The man was a large child and this was why he did not associate with these people. Well, one of the reasons.

That was when a bright light came on.

Pitch raised his hands to cover himself, expecting to feel a burning sensation. It surprised him when the feeling never came. He put his hands down as his eyes adjusted to the light. This wasn't right. Usually light burned him, hurt him, but… now it felt (as much as he hated to say this) nice. He hadn't felt gentle light on him...for as long as he could remember and for some reason he found _comfort_ in the warmth that it brought.

Once the man got rid of all of the white spots in his eyes he looked towards the source of the light. The boy, of course the boy had woken up because of North's loud clamor.

The boy stared at them all with wonder as he looked at all of the legends he believed in, standing right in his room.

"Santa Claus? The Easter Bunny…? The Tooth fairy! I knew you'd come!" The boy breathed out in awe.

That was when his flashlight went over Pitch. "Are…are you the Boogieman?" The boy asked, his jaw dropping.

Pitch desperately wanted to slap himself in the face. Why did all children know him as the Boogieman? It was so _demeaning_. Why couldn't they call him the Nightmare King? Or even the Shadow man! That would have been _slightly_ better than that stupid nickname.

All of the guardians turned to Pitch in shock. "What? I do have some believers." He said, slightly offended.

"Guys, he's still awake." Tooth reminded them.

"Sandy, knock him out." Sandy made a 'I'll beat you up' motion with his hands and Jaime twisted his face in confusion.

"With the dream sand ya gumby." At that moment everything started going wrong.

A grey and white dog jumped onto the small bed and stood growling at Bunny.

"Abbey! What are you doing! That's the Easter Bunny!" Jaime exclaimed and tried to get Abbey to back down but the dog didn't even glance his way.

"Ok, nobody panic." The pooka put down his tooth bag.

"Bunnymund, that is a grey hound. Do you know what grey hounds do to rabbits?" Pitch asked smirking.

"Safe bet that he's never met a rabbit like me. Six foot one, nerves of steel, master of tai chi..." The Boogieman rolled his eyes as he spied a Clock on the desk. He smirked deciding to mess with the supposed Pooka warrior.

It only took a few seconds and all of the Guardians sans Sandy and Pitch were asleep on the ground. The Boogieman gave a sheepish grin looking at Sandy who was putting the human boy back in bed. Pitch's attention was then captured by the dream candy canes and carrots that North and Bunny had conjured. He guffawed looking at Sandman again who shrugged before smirking and taking out a video camera. It was now Pitch's turn to be confused. Where had the camera come from?

Sandy gave a secret smirk and signed, _You'll find out when all of this is over_. Pitch rolled his eyes before waving the small man away and walking over to the window.

He felt his hair be blown by something that moved incredibly fast outside of the window, and it wasn't the wind. Pitch quickly looked outside to see a group of the designated Frostmares that sped off the moment they were seen.

"Hurry Sandman! It's them!" Pitch exclaimed as Onyx emerged from the shadows. Pitch mounted her and they flew out of the window.

"Come on!" Sandy cringed as he stepped over Tooth and only looked back once before taking into the air.

It was no problem for Sandy to catch up to Pitch and they pursued the nightmares together. Pitch smiled a bit as the chase got heated and almost laughed had he not caught himself. He was having fun!

-x-

A certain snowflake smirked as he felt the joy bubbling up in Pitch's chest. The Shadow man was so close... but he was still resisting the change. The proof of that was the way the color brown and silver warred into the man's eyes. Jack almost growled from his position behind a lower building as they chased the decoy. He had to do something to break Pitch's resolve. Make it so that he didn't _want_ to go back to darkness. Jack really had no choice.

He was going to be cruel. He didn't like taking away a child's toy but...

Jack looked in his hand at the crudely made long black metal box. It was not as beautiful or enchanting as the original but what was outside made no difference. All that mattered was what was inside. It had taken him months to finish and _years_ to collect the contents but it would be worth it.

The Frost child just hoped that it served it's purpose.

-x-

The Sandman and Pitch split up at one point to get two separate Frostmares. Pitch was growing frustrated but when the thing seemed to slow down the shadow man decided to try and shoot it down. With a make shift arrow and bow (he later asked himself how he knew how to shoot but shrugged it off as luck) he took a shot and somehow got it. The boogieman scoffed in disbelief as his Nightmare went to see how the iced over Nightmare was looking. The poor thing was truly injured and bled water. It shook it's head slightly as it looked up with black eyes before it went still.

Pitch heard crackling behind them and turned around just in time to get shot down with an ice bolt. The Nightmare King tumbled off of his Nightmare which was surrounded by Frostmares in mere seconds. It kicked up and whinnied. The tall man stood up immediately, the place where he had sat moments ago layered in ice. That was when he saw an impassive Jack Frost walking languidly towards him.

"You think you're some big shot but you're only a child!" Pitch yelled trying to get a reaction out of him.

"Perhaps but what else am I supposed to do in my time?" He mocked.

"Why are you here Pitch? With them? With your _enemies_." The immortal teenager asked.

"I wouldn't be able to take you down on my own so I got myself some people who could." Pitch automatically replied but the words held nothing, no means, and Jack smirked internally realizing this.

"You do realize that that was just a iterrible/i lie. When did you become a bad liar?" The Winter spirit asked with the most innocent face he could muster.

The Nightmare king balked at the expression and then reevaluated the words.

"Why you... I am not lying!"

"Come on Pitch, there is no reason to lie. Tell me, what is the real reason that you are helping the guardians. Not many people know this but I am incredibly good at reading people." Jack put his finger to his lips in fake indecision.

"Let's see... You are insecure, you're mind is torn into two. One side is yelling at you to come back to your senses and the other... the other is _so_ much darker. Always telling you that you are nothing but darkness. And now... you don't know what you are. And now that you have found out that you had a life before the darkness..." Jack trailed off and Pitch's eyes widened.

"You were listening...?" Jack raised his eyebrow at that before waving his hand at the man.

"Of course not. But... did you really think that I wouldn't make sure that I had all parts and variables sorted before I put my plan into action? I'm not an idiot." He said before walking to the edge of the building.

He jumped in surprise when he saw the Sandman float in front of him with a disapproving look on his face, as if he expected better from him. Jack adapted an almost guilty face before shaking his head and looking at the Sandman with little to no expression. The little man looked at him with... pity. Jack glared slightly backing away as the man conjured a golden whip.

Jack's eyes widened as he tried to jump off of the other end of the building. That plan failed terribly because instead he was grabbed around the waist by a long strain of the golden man's sand. He closed his eyes expecting a beating, and a beating he got.

He was thrown around here and there. He hit a few walls and all of the breath was knocked out of his lungs, his head feeling dizzy. He couldn't help but ask himself if this was worth it.

_"Please Jack, please!"_

Yes, it was worth it... somewhat. When the little, but strong, man was finished with the poor winter sprite the child lay on the ground in pain holding back whimpers. _I don't want this! I want home! I want to go back to my lake and my snowballs and fun times!_ The Frost boy thought in agony.

Why me?

The lad raised his head first before pushing his shaking body up. He was injured, upset, and tired... so very tired.

He shook as he raised himself to his feet and replaced his passive mask and slight, teasing smirk.

_Please,_ A part of him pleaded as blood dripped from his cheeks and his eyes, dead on the inside, yet mischievous on the outside, lit up.

_Stop... my heart..._ The lonely child pleaded as it scratched scratched scratched at the walls in his mind, streaking them with a bright cherry red.

An iced staff freezes over legs here, a boomerang hitting a shoulder there, a wing slicing through a leg over there.

_Help me please... mama!_ The small child pleaded as he slumped to the impossibly dark floor and curled around himself.

Jack, despite his three hundred years, was still a child mentally. No love, meant no growth and even more loneliness. He'd learned to mask it over the years but when things became too difficult he would revert to a childish state where he would fly to Antarctica and cry and cry and cry until he had no more tears left. He had been left alone for so very _long_. It _hurt_.

He didn't know who he was calling for. He wasn't aware he had a _mama_ but he called out anyway, copying what he had seen of human children when they were hurt or abandoned.

Another boomerang to the other shoulder, a sand whip that was strangely gently smacking his head, and a sword cutting his cheek.

_I don't want this anymore! Save me, someone! Before I hurt someone!_ A shrill cry came so loud that Jack swore that the others heard.

Everything was a blur. There was only one thing that sounded loud and clear. The sound of the wind moving frantically and the sand that was dripping in his hands.

His vision cleared and he finally saw _why_ he had sand on his hands. His hands were clawed, having been sharpened with ice, and one of them was buried into the chest of a billions of years old wishing star. Jack's eyes widened with horror.

_No!_

"Sandy!"

_What-_

"Oh my go-!"

_have-_

"Monster!"

_I-_

Ice freezing over.

_DONE!_

Small man consumed

Ice shatters

Snow falls

All silent

No motions

One scream

-x-

Jack snaps into action as he is nearly barreled into. Jack was having none of that. He flew and flew, higher and higher. His instincts keeping him going and his adrenaline keeping him moving. His eyes unseeing as the wind took him farther and farther away.

Unconsciously he dropped his staff once he reached the arctic and wind let him go with a final yowl. Jack tumbled down and down into a deep crevice in the ice that he had never seen. The child didn't care. He just didn't care.

His broken body, bleeding both physically and mentally, curled in on itself trying to cling to it's former strong facade. Tears fell and hands trembled as he clutched his head.

_No one will get hurt._

_I promise that if you do this everything will be fine._

_You will be fine_

_Everyone will be fine_

_Anything can be fixed._

Liar... she was a liar! She lied to me! She hu-hurt me! She... The unfortunate winter sprite coudn't think straight. His mind was reduced to that of a child and he didn't remember. What was he supposed to remember? Death? Life? Did he want to remember, no, but he did. He choked back a scream as blood dripped from his mouth.

Really? Can he be fixed? As far as he could tell he was shattered. Blood, or sand, was on his hands. He had killed someone. He had killed the one person who had ever truly noticed him in his long lonely existence.

The poor boy covered his face with his shaking hands and wept.

He wept for the long years.

He wept for his cruel immortality

He wept for his cruel mother

He wept for the Man of Dreams to whom he had killed.

He wept until he was numb in both body and mind.

He was tired.

_He was so very tired_

Could he rest now? Could he be left in peace?

"Jack? Oh my Jack. You are not done yet. Stand. You are almost there." He heard a calming voice as he looked to his side to see his cruel _cruel_ mother.

He sobbed.

**Why wouldn't she leave him be!**

_Is it still worth it Jackie-boy? Is it still worth it?_ A small, more mature, voice asked in his head and Jack's glazed over eyes swam with tears.

The Green Lady carried his limp body in her arms as he shook his head.

No. Nothing was worth this.

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**I'm depressed now, and sad. On the bright side, I got my new laptop and I'm so happy :)**

**I hope you liked this and sorry for the long wait.**

**And yes, you have found out that Mother Nature had requested help _years_ ago and Jack had been spending years to build up his plan**

**Jack:... I killed Sandy?**

**Anna:...**

**Review Responses:**

**Moonpie: Yes, I intended for them to look like Merida and Hiccup though they left their lives behind in favor of becoming Autumn and Summer. Don't worry, I'm bringing them in later on but for now...**

**Peaceful Dragon Rose, Guest1&3, and AyameKitsune: Thanks :)**

**Guest2: Hehe... that's what I was trying to get at :) It was the funny part before well... this.**

Please Review!


	7. Cracked Egglets

**Chapter 7-Rising Action: Cracked Egglets**

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The guardians had become so still that those who could see them would have thought that they were statues. Their heads moved to look down at the carving in the floor. The Tooth Fairy placed a candle on the bright tile that symbolized the deceased Sandman.

Everything was so very still as they mourned, only the sound of bells chiming throughout the whole room.

The Sandman was dead and so were their hopes for redemption and restoration.

They all held hands as one lithe figure sat curled up on the window sill. His eyes were to the window as he watched the snow fall in heavy streaks. His mind was a mesh.

Sandman was dead. His opposite, his practically fraternal twin was gone. The only person who was truly able to oppose him when he was at his height. Pitch would never say this, but he felt like there was a hole in his chest. He was scared. He was hurt. Something that a Nightmare King should never feel.

Could he even call himself the Nightmare King? The voices were back, telling him that he was darkness and that he was a fool to have ever believed otherwise. The scratchy influences spoke about how he could have saved the small man, telling him that he was worthless.

And then there was the other voice that told him that no matter what he did, he could not have helped Sandy. He would've died even with his help. As much as he wanted to hate Frost for what he did, he just couldn't. He, unlike the rest of the Guardians, had seen the look on the Winter spirit's face when his hand went through the Sandman's chest.

They were completely glazed over. He had fought on complete instinct which was why his moves were jerky and he bore his teeth more than once. The boy... had been defending himself and that was what made no sense. Frost had been the one attacking but... the kid had felt like he had been protecting himself. It was only a few seconds after his hand had gone through the Man of Dream's chest that those haunting eyes had regained it's light. The only word that he could use to describe the fae's reaction was horror, pure horror. It looked like something had died in the boy at that very minute and the mental barriers that had previously been so strong had started to break down.

The grey skin man felt isorry/i for the boy. He didn't know why though it seemed that his inner voice did because at one point he had heard it sigh a name in disappointment... what was the name again?

_Seraphina..._

As in Mother Nature? Perhaps he spoke of a different Seraphina... Pitch wouldn't know for quite a while.

Pitch was snapped out of his reverie when he felt a large hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to see North with an unusually sad face on his normally bright face.

"What is bothering you Pitch?" He asked.

"I... I just feel like I should've done something to help. I don't know what is happening to me. Before, I couldn't care less what happened to any of you and now... I just-" He groaned in frustration.

"I'm so confused. I keep hearing voices in my head telling me different things. And then there is the fact that even _Frost_ knew I was somebody before I was...this!" Pitch exclaimed pointing to himself.

North's eyebrows furrowed. "Jack... knew? But how? " The man's eyes were filled with contempt at the name, but there was also so much more confusion.

"I don't know! It seems to me that he knows more than he lets on but... something tells me that that boy is not in the right state of mind at the moment." North's eyebrows furrowed together.

"What do you mean?"

"I-uhhh... How do I explain this?" Pitch asked himself as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"The look in the boys eyes, it was just, heartbreaking- even for me and I-I..." The Boogieman hit himself on the forehead as he tried to let out what he was feeling.

"We deal with this later Pitch. I do not think that now is the time for this." North said and motioned for the skinny man to pull himself up. The lanky man did so reluctantly.

Pitch practically dragged himself towards the globe whose lights were flickering. The Guardians looked mournfully at the fading lights.

"They are… all going out." Pitch whispered looking up with wise, sad eyes.

"Frost has tipped the balance. Without dreams… there is nothing to hold beliefs." Pitch sighed in realization looking to the side.

Why do I feel horror at what is happening? Wasn't this what I had wanted? Wasn't it? Pitch thought to himself as he began to pace.

_Not anymore…_

Will you just shut up! I don't need you to confuse things further!

"Hey, cheer up ya bunch of sad sacks! The world hasn't ended." The rabbit exclaimed, climbing onto the controlling panel of the globe to which North glared at. Oh yes, that was such a _bright_ thing to say, Pitch thought as he glared at the Pooka.

"Tomorrow is Easter, and I need all of the help I can get. I say we all pitch in so we can start getting all of those little lights flickering again! Who's with me!" The rabbit did have an inspirational speech; the Nightmare King had to give him that.

The Guardians smiled as their energy was renewed with the promise that everything would be fine.

If only they had known.

-x-

Seraphina growled in frustration. This was getting harder and harder for her to pull off. She knew that she had taken a huge risk asking her winter child to help her, and some part of her regretted doing so now.

Said boy was held up in the air by the vines that were so abundant in the woman's home and was pumping green, healing energy into him. The vines held him up in the air by his waist and shoulders while everything else simply dangled like a broken doll parts. The atmosphere that surrounded him was a shimmering green as it caused his wounds to sizzle and reluctantly pull itself together. She specialized in Spring magic though being the mother of all seasons so she wasn't going to be able to give him any of his Winter magic until his hibernation which was months away! His body looked like it was being sown together by a six year old child. The way her spring magic was healing him was probably messing with the winter climate outside of her Sanctuary and was also hurting more than it was healing him. His face was as still as death and his eyes unmoving as they stared up, not truly seeing anything.

His mental state was probably worse than any of his physical wounds.

Never had she seen such _damage_, such _pain_. She had known that her Winter sprite was the most sensitive and the youngest of all of his siblings but…

She hadn't realized just how terribly sad and _lonely_ he was. He had hit his breaking point and she truly didn't know what to do. She had forgotten that Jack was merely a child. One side of her wanted to take care of her child, gather him into her arms and beg for his forgiveness.

And then there was the other side that didn't care. All it wanted was it's father back.

That side always won.

However, now the question was…

How could she stitch up this terribly torn doll that she had not so gently tossed through knives?

-x-

And now we go back to the Guardians who were going down an open elevator. A completely different atmosphere than what was in the Sanctuary, that could be assured, and air that was filled with hope and wonder.

"Bunny is right!" North's voice boomed as the front part of the cage like elevator opened and North signed a piece of paper at the entrance.

"As much as I hate to say this old friend ,but this time Easter is more important than Christmas." The large man stated walking forward with purpose as the Easter Bunny sputtered with excitement, saying

"Ya'll heard that right!" and laughing in disbelief.

"Now we go to the sleigh!" North exclaimed heading towards the general direction of where the Yeti's packed the sleigh when it wasn't in use,

"Na mate. My warren, my rules." Pitch had a bad feeling about this. He remembered some years back when Bunnymund used rabbit holes to travel... Oh no.

"Buckle up." The Pooka said, tapping his foot.

All of their eyes widened as a large hole opened up underneath all of them.

"Rimsky Korsakov." The Russian breathed out as he fell in with all of the others.

They all screamed as they fell down the rabbit hole, bumping into each other and disorienting themselves. They could distinctly hear a rough voice laughing at them. They wished that they could choke Bunnymund at the moment, especially Pitch who was thinking of many ways to kill the Rabbit man. Then the ride stopped all together and they were all lying on grassy grounds.

"Buckle up, is very funny." North said, recovering first.

The others shook their heads, trying to come to their senses and looked up. All ill-intent vanished in mere seconds at the magnificent sight before them. Before them...

"Welcome to the Warren." Bunny stood in the very front, large stone eggs standing in the back with their faces turned to the happy option.

The Warren was the definition of Spring. All of the flowers were in full bloom and there were dozens of hills covered with marsh wet moss. The air smelled of lemon grass and there was little to no wind.

Before Bunnymund could speak again his ears perked up and he turned towards the direction of the tunnels.

"Something's up." He said, his eyes narrowing.

The others went into a battle stance except for Pitch, of course (He had too much dignity for that) who stood there confused on why the others were so uptight. He didn't feel any of his nightmare sand down in the Warren and it certainly hadn't gotten any colder so...

That was when some blank eggs came running out of one of the stone tunnel where the assumed villain was traveling through. Pitch could only smell the distinct scent of... oh no. Pitch tried to stop the Guardians from charging but... they couldn't hear him over their _screaming_. The whole thing would've been ridicules had it not been a _child_ they were attacking. Pitch just didn't expect for who the child was.

Out from the tunnel came a white haired boy with an oversized blue hoodie that looked like a dress for the physically four year old child. He looked up at them with awe, his arms filled with squirming eggs as they gaped. He quickly got distracted by the elf that then fell over, quickly dropping the eggs in his arms. The tiny frost boy ran after the elf as the guardians hastily made a path for him.

"What in the world... Is that Frost?" Bunnymund asked pointing to the child after they all composed themselves.

Pitch simply stared at the boy as he caught the elf and was now pulling it by it's pointy hat, grinning ear to ear.

"Elf, elf." He was giggling and Pitch couldn't help but find it endearing as he walked up to the boy.

The Frost twin looked up to the older man and let out a confused noise as the Boogieman bent down to take a closer look. This was definitely Frost but... without the creepy look added. That and much _younger_. Whatever black skin tones he had gained from the _incident_ with his Nightmares was gone and he looked like a normal child, sans the pale skin and the unnatural white hair. The boy giggled as he put his hands over his face bashfully. The Nightmare King then noticed something around his neck. It was a necklace that practically radiated power. The same power that held the mind barriers in the older Frost boy's mentality.

Something told him that this _was_ Frost but... only a different version of him.

"This is Frost." Pitch verified straitening up while the below boy whined and tried to jump but was only capable of getting a few inches off of the ground and then falling onto his butt.

"_That_ is Jack Frost? You're joking right? That is a child, barely a five year old!" The tooth fairy exclaimed, startling the boy on the ground.

"Oi! Don't forget that we _are_ dealing with an ankle biter and there's still Easter to worry about! What are we goin' ta do about him?" Bunny was starting to panic while the mini Jack ran around, chasing a butterfly.

"Don't worry Bunny! I got this covered!" The Tooth Fairy said, completely ignoring that the little boy was probably their worst enemy at the moment. She flew around a bit, catching the usually Frosted boy's attention.

"Wow... Pretty." He sighed in awe as Tooth melted.

"Aww... thank you little one. Lookie over here! I got a little something for you." She said in a teasing tone, flying to be at his level. She held out her palm.

"Look at all of the pretty little teeth with blood and gum on them!" She exclaimed as if it was the best thing in the world. The child looked at her than at the teeth with wide eyes before he started to cry and ran in the opposite direction.

The Tooth Fairy looked shocked as she held the teeth close to her and floated a bit closer to the others.

"Really? Blood and gums?" Pitch looked at the only woman with an incredulous look, trying to hold back his laughter. She shrugged sheepishly.

"When was the last time you all spent time with children?" Pitch asked walking over to the rock where the Frost child was busy terrorizing the eggs that were trying to find different places to hide.

"We are busy spreading joy to children! We do not have time for... children!" North exclaimed as Pitch rolled his eyes and face palmed himself.

He looked down when he felt something tugging at his robe. He nearly cooed when he saw Winter's little boy hugging his leg, smiling up at him with his sparkling blue globes. Something in Pitch melted as his normally slow beating heart sped up, his normally gray cheeks becoming tinted with a little bit of red and peach. He leaned down and picked the boy up, cradling him in his arms.

The boy smiled, snuggling into the man's robe.

The Easter Bunny scoffed. "Of course he likes the Boogieman more than us..." He muttered as North patted the Pooka roughly on the back, causing him to stumble a bit.

"Ok mates, we don't got time for this!" Bunny exclaimed, recovering as he glared at North.

"Oh lighten up rabbit. Last I remembered, the eggs did all the work themselves." The Boogieman smirked as he could see a pink tint behind the normally composed Pooka's fur.

"Ahh shut up." He muttered, walking briskly past them as little Jack bounced in Pitch's arms laughing as the older man cooed over the little boy, talking about how the Easter Bunny was 'being a grump'.

The remaining two guardians smiled when they looked at the partially gray skinned man.

"He really acts like a father doesn't he?" Tooth whispered to North who nodded.

"I have feeling that things will change for better. Feel it in my belly." North replied back before letting out a booming laugh.

Pitch didn't even realize what he was doing. Everything he did was purely on instinct that was supposed to be forgotten and lost.

Maybe things were changing for the better.

And so they had continued on with happiness filling all of them to the brim. The tiny Jack collected small eggs in his arms and dumped them into the coloring river staining his own way too big jacket a variety of colors.

Even Pitch was having fun looking over the small kid which was just too cute in the older man's opinion. The boy was just a normal human child! He had no trace of magic running through his veins but... that could be due to the necklace around his neck. The Boogieman had tried to remove it but the white haired boy was having none of that. Started yelling his head off the minute Pitch had touched it.

Truthfully, the Nightmare King had never enjoyed himself more than he had that day. Watching the billions of eggs walking on their feet's and into the tunnels, taking care of the Frost stripped boy... it all made him so very happy.

He now sat on the hill watching the eggs begin their descent into the tunnels with the small tyke in his arms who was snuggling into the Boogieman like he was the world's softest pillow.

As he moved to push a strand of hair out of the boy's face he noticed his hand. He gasped when he saw that it was a completely natural peach. He looked at his other hand to find that it was the same color. He had a panicked, yet completely confused look on his face. The boy in his lap fidgeted before pulling at Pitch's robe in annoyance at the sudden movement. It was only now that the older man realized what he was doing.

The Nightmare King was holding a child.

And he was not scaring it.

He looked at the boy in amazement. He felt no urge to hurt this boy and unlike before when his thoughts would have made him believe that the child was the most disgusting thing on the planet, he found the mini Frost adorable.

This was new, or old depending on how you looked at it.

"I didn't know you had it in ya." Pitch jumped slightly, instinctively curling his arms a bit more tightly around the bundle in his arms. He turned to see Bunny crouching beside him.

"Thank you... I guess." The silver eyed man replied as he looked back at the boy who had fallen asleep in his arms, relaxing a bit.

"Do ya... really think that that's Frost? I mean... that's a kid. I mean a _real_ kid. He just seems too... innocent." Bunny said reaching out to brush away the bangs that had covered the boy's eyes in a loving manner.

"This is Frost, I'm sure of it but... not the Frost that is attacking us- I mean you Guardians." He said, cursing himself at his slip up.

"What do you mean by that?" North appeared behind them along with Tooth.

"I've seen Jack Frost before he attacked you. That boy _loves_ children. It just... doesn't make any sense. I would watch as he threw snowballs and played with the children despite the fact that they couldn't see him as he could see them. I just-" Before he could go on the child in his arm had snapped his eyes wide open.

The boy quickly shoved his face into Pitch's chest as he started to cry. The Guardians looked at him worriedly but immediately turned their attention to something else when they heard the sound of something pounding against the walls causing the Warren to shake.

"I-I'm sowwy." The little tyke snuffled in his broken child speech.

The little ankle biter didn't think that what he said meant anything, after all, he doubted that the Guardians could hear anything over the sound of stampeding horse hooves.

-x-

Jack looked at the bare warren with an impassive look. He felt so very empty, like his bare essence had been stripped from him.

In a way, it had been when...

Jack shook his head and tried to feel anger, sadness, _something_ but...

The Black Frost boy couldn't. He couldn't feel _anything_. He was nothing but an empty shell that was waiting for it's time to be thrown away, after all that was what Seraphina would do after she was done with him. She would have her father, her happiness... what else would she want with the Winter Spirit she was so willing to break? Jack tried to tell himself that that wouldn't happen, clung to the hope that told him that everything would be alright. But deep down inside he knew that there was no hope. The Mother Nature never cared about him in the first place. In fact, when she asked him to help her, it was only his second time meeting the Spirit of all seasons.

Jack hadn't wanted to destroy anything, he hadn't wanted to ruin Easter but it was only a matter of time before practicality overruled his emotions (not like he had them anymore anyway). He stared blankly at the ground which was littered with crushed Easter eggs. He then looked up through one of the tunnels. It was dark... so _dark_.

He didn't notice but it seemed that the make-up wasn't exactly _make-up_ anymore. It seemed like he had actually become the mask that he had unwillingly put on.

Jack didn't know that the make-up had actually been washed away after he banished his center, leaving him as empty and dark as an old clay doll.

...

Hopefully he wouldn't find out anytime soon.

* * *

**Yay! I got this in :)**

**Sorry guys, but I was disconnected from the internet for a few days and I couldn't post the chapter until now.**

**And yes, I called Jack a fae because, face it, he is a seasonal sprite, and a winter one at that. It's more reasonable that way :) **

**That, and am I repeating something I wrote in earlier chapters?**

**Ya so... if you haven't found out, the humor part of this story ended a chapter of two ago so... **

**I'm sorry for writing evil things T-T**

**Almost forgot to reply to the reviews!**

**Rosewaver: Yes, I know that neither of them are dutch. Did I accidently put something like that in there? I'm going to have to change it later on then... And thank you for the compliment :)**

**Phantom Trainer: Yes, I am sorry but it is necessary for things to get worse before they get better! Keep that in mind! (Jack: I don't like where this story is heading for me... Anna: Shut your mouth! Jack: Yes ma'am)**

**Guest: I'm sorry for ripping your heart out... And yes, Jack killed Sandy :(**

**And thanks to sarafine-ecleips and Fey Beauty for reviewing as well :D**

**I hope you guys liked this and please review!**


	8. Blaming the Center

**Rising Action: Blaming the Center**

* * *

It was somewhere in England where the results of the attack that left the Warren bare and all of the egglets broken were examined. The children looked for the eggs that were supposed to be hidden in an Easter Egg hunt.

With long faces they looked around. One brother and sister in particular came to mind.

The girl sat on the table that was normally put for the parents to sit on and talk while the children searched for the eggs. The boy that stood a few feet away from her looked at his basket with sad confusion.

"Maybe he just hid them very well this year." The girl said dejectedly, trying to keep up her hope.

"I checked everywhere. There's nothing." The boy stood up with a sad and broken sigh.

In the bushes a 6 foot 1 rabbit hid, looking on at them with wide eyes filled with hurt and despair. He fingered at the eggs in his basket, trying to think of what he could do. Bunnymund couldn't take seeing this and jumped out of the bushes, hopping until he was right in front of them.

"There is! There is. I mean these are my best lookin googies but they'll do in a pinch." Bunny held out the egg in front of him, showing it to the children that he was trying so desperately to show that not all was lost.

"I can't believe it." The little brown eyed girl said as she looked down.

"I know mate but—" The lass cut him off before he could say anything else.

"There's no such thing as the Easter Bunny." The girl then began to walk away as the rabbit let a confused and hurt question come out, "What?"

He quickly recovered. "What are ya talking about! Not true! I'm right in front of ya!" The pooka exclaimed jumping in front of another boy but the child didn't stop, he didn't even pause.

The unbelieving child just walked right through him.

The poor Easter Bunny's ears flattened against his skull as he sunk down to the ground with eyes filled with shock. "They don't see me… they don't see me…" The unfortunate rabbit man murmured as he curled into himself, not being able to see all of the other children leave.

The other guardians (and Pitch) walked out of the bushes, seeing as it was no longer necessary to hide. They all had woeful looks on their faces. Pitch came out last with the small boy tucked in his arms. The child had long stopped crying but refused to remove his head from the Boogieman's chest.

That was when Bunnymund began to shake and stood up languidly. He turned his head slowly to look at Pitch.

His face was contorted with anger, scrunched up in a telling of pure rage.

"You…" He growled making Pitch unconsciously wrap his arms tighter around the bundle in his arms as the boy whimpered.

Bunnymund stormed up to Pitch who nervously shifted back a bit.

"I knew that that boy was no good! He's the reason that Easter was ruined!" The rabbit snarled. Pitch was appalled.

"You're blaming a five year old for some cracked eggs! I didn't think that you could say something so cruel!" Pitch replied before the small child made a mistake.

He looked away from the robe wearing man's chest and looked up to Bunnymund. His eyes were pure innocent and that was what seemed to set the Pooka warrior off.

He let off a loud cry as he raised his fist. Pitch's eyes widened as he held the Frost child tightly in his arms and moved them so he was turned away from the Pooka's view. The poor boy cried out loudly at the sudden, jerky movement of the one who held him. Bunny's fist stopped in mid air as he glared down at the Boogieman who raised his eyes to glare right back. The child that was kept from Bunnymund's view sniffled as the grip the Boogieman had on him slipped and he slipped out of the too big hoodie and dropped to the floor. Underneath he wore a thin cotton shirt that was again, as baggy as the hoodie but the thing was thin, though thankfully not see-through.

The mini Jack had tears welling up in his eyes as he looked at the large, angry Bunnymund who didn't take his eyes off of Pitch.

"Of course you would side with him. You're just as bad. You darken everything you touch. How in the world could I forget that you are the Boogieman?" The rabbit murmured with venom filling his deep voice.

The shorter man glared at Bunnymund. While the Pooka spoke, the little boy on the ground carefully rose to his feet and nearly went to clutch at Pitch's robes when something caught his eyes.

Frost. It was a Frost horse! It was his other! His other would know what to do! To the little Center, his other could do no wrong; he only did what he was supposed to do. The little boy wandered away without anyone noticing (How the hell could you not notice a toddler wandering off 0-o?)

The little boy didn't understand why the big scary rabbit was angry. He didn't know why the nice black man was so upset either. They had talked too fast and too low for him to hear. They were just eggs right? And there was always a next year! That's how Easter worked!

The boy shivered as he grew closer to the Frostmare. He giggled as he jumped up and down, walking in front of the thing. It was there to take him back to his other! The Frostmare kneeled down and let the boy crawl onto it's back. The thing whinnied softly as it trotted into the depths of the forest with the half-dressed boy clinging to it's neck.

-x-

Surprisingly, none of the Guardians noticed the boy's disappearance until Pitch clutched at the jacket and was shocked to see that only the blue fabric was there and that the little boy was gone.

The Nightmare King panicked when he saw a flash of white and blue in the retreating forest.

"What—they took him! The Frosted Nightmares took him!" Pitch pointed to the forest as he called for his Nightmare.

He looked behind him to see that none of the Guardians had moved.

"Did you not hear what I just said? A child has just been kidnapped! Are you not going to do anything about it?!" The Nightmare King exclaimed in outrage as his Nightmare moved back and forth with impatience.

"What can we do Pitch? We have no power! We have nothing..." North trailed off, looking hopelessly at the ground.

The Boogieman looked at them with unbelieving looks. These... these were the people who he had known? These faces were who they were when stripped of belief? His eyes dulled with disbelief. They were...

_Pathetic_

Pitch looked down as the Nightmare stilled and looked up at his master. The man's eyes were a cold steel that replaced the once warm silver as he mounted the Nightmare. A small part of his heart darkened. That was, after all, what he was. Darkness. He _was_ a fool to think otherwise.

"You're pathetic. You refuse to protect the one thing that you are supposed to guard. To think that I thought you were decent people." Pitch hissed, venom filling his voice and black ink running through his veins.

"Fine. If you don't want to save a ichild/i than go on! Sulk! Now you know what I feel! What Frost feels! You have not, once, ever felt the chill of human flesh passing through your body. You have never been not _believed_ in! Maybe Frost did this to get you off of your high horses! M-maybe he did this because you _deserved_ this." The Boogieman was steeled and it seemed that his eyes grew more and more metallic.

The situation was bitter on his tongue. Tooth tried to say something but ... it seemed like she couldn't. She was too caught up in her grief to think properly.

Pitch couldn't _believe_ that he had thought that the Guardians were people that he could stand.

Fine. If the guardians wouldn't save that boy then he would.

-x-

Deep inside a cave, a little Frost boy ventured through the dark cavern riding an ice covered horse. The child had long since fallen asleep since they had first entered the cave's tunnels. When the Frostmare arrived to an opening, the child was jolted awake.

The sight was truly amazing. The cave had developed since Jack had first started to build it (which was years ago). He had decided against a castle and instead went for an underground type of safe haven. It looked exactly what you would expect an ice cave to look like, except much more elegant and symmetrical.

Sharp jagged crystals coming out from the ground in periodical patterns seemed to emanate light from their cores. It was haunting and brittle, just like the person who had created said icicles. The room itself was actually half the size of Bunnymund's warren. However, there were dozens of tunnels that led to different places, different continents, that spanned the upper walls of the cavern. It was out of one of these tunnels that the Frostmare and the child came as a pair.

The little boy looked on with wonder as the mare leapt from it's perch on the edge of the opening and flew down until it landed nosily on the floor.

"Did you find him?" A voice called out and the younger one turned around to see his counterpart. The child quickly dismounted his ride who barely had enough time to kneel before the child jumped down.

What happened next was completely unexpected.

When the child ran towards the cold white haired boy he paused as he saw the other wasn't too happy. Jack glared down at his younger as the boy backed away slightly only to run into another Frostmare. It quickly grabbed the scruff of the mini Frost's hoodie with it's jaws and stood to full height. The confused boy didn't understand what was happening. He looked at his elder in confusion as he stopped his futile struggling.

"What…?" He warbled out as something began to form in Jack's outstretched hands.

The young, now scared, boy's eyes widened as he began to struggle again.

"No! P-please!" He let out chocked whines as something was wound around his head and covered his mouth, effectively gagging him.

"Be happy that I don't blind you. You're the one who left the cave, the one who decided that disobeying me wouldn't have consequences." The center whimpered as he was taken into the shadows and lead into another part of the apparently complex lair.

"Now all I have to do is wait…" The older Frost smirked as he pulled out the little metal box that he had spent countless years working on.

"He will _definitely_ be coming..."

-x-

Pitch wasn't certain where he would find the stolen child so instead of wandering around like an idiot he started at the place where he knew Frost always, _always_ came back to.

Burgess.

For some reason the Winter Spirit always went back to that town (Pitch wished he knew why).

The man had been going around for what seemed to be hours (It was actually only 10 minutes but that's what parental instincts do to you).

His eyes showed his panic as the Nightmare underneath him pawed at the ground, feeling it's masters unease and not liking it in the least.

The Nightmare king wasn't supposed to feel fear for anyone or _anything_.

The Nightmare's glowing eyes narrowed but before it's thoughts could go down a much darker path it heard a noise. Onyx's head popped up, his ears upright as he turned his head to the sound.

_"Daddy? Daddy where are you?"_ A voice was heard. It sounded like that of a little girl and the Boogieman's eyes lit up.

"I… I know that voice." He whispered before he motioned for his mount to follow it.

He looked alarmed when he realized that he had lost the girl's voice, standing on top of a large building.

_"Daddy?"_ The voice called out, confused.

Pitch snapped his head in the direction of the voice and he was in pursuit. He did not expect where the voice led him to though. It was the lake that Burgess was so known for. The lake that never melted and even in the Summer time was hard and thick as rock, never once melting.

It was Jack Frost's lake that he found. He really shouldn't have been surprised.

The Nightmare trotted on the ice, knowing that the ice wouldn't crack and that they could easily make a getaway if it did. Pitch looked around as he wondered, where had the voice come from?

_"Daddy?"_ The voice came again and this time the Nightmare King was able to identify where the so familiar voice was coming from.

It was coming from the lake.

_Under it,_ to be exact.

The Black Sand of the horse shimmered as it reared up, the ice beneath it's feat cracking. Pitch let out a scream as he was thrown off to the side. The Boogieman looked on in horror as he saw his last remaining Nightmare being dragged into the murky waters by frostbitten hands of… could that even be considered human?

Pitch shivered as he stood. He pulled his cloak tighter around him. Originally, it could easily be told that the robe that covered the grey skinned man had literally been a part of him. Now… it seemed that it was having a hard time staying _on_.

"Finally!" He heard someone exclaim behind him and he turned around to find the one and only Jack Frost.

"Why are you doing this?" Was the first thing that came out of the older man's mouth.

The Frost child smirked before it turned into a frown.

"Why do you think that I am doing this? I'm tired. I'm so very _tired_ of being ignored all of time. Ignored and neglected. I've been pushed and pushed and _pushed_ until the child in me was ripped out of my chest." Jack was glaring by the time he finished his response and Pitch's eyes were wide as he remembered the child he had been taking care of in the Warren.

"That-that child was _you_." The Nightmare King whispered looking at the shell of the Frost boy with horror.

"Per say. A _part_ of me in technical terms. I suppose, though, that I lasted longer than most children. I was forced to _grow up_, my innocence ripped from my chest and thrown away by the person who was supposed to love me the most." Jack's face was twisted in an angry scowl that betrayed hurt and revulsion.

The Boogieman's faced contorted into that of confusion. 'The person the was supposed to love me the most?' So someone had pushed him? Someone had forced him to _be_ like _this_?

Pitch couldn't get anything out of the younger's mind. The barriers were much stronger than before and it was nauseating just trying to scratch at the boy's walls.

"But," The older man's face snapped up.

"This isn't about me. Never was. I'm just a puppet in this game." He stared at Pitch with little to no emotion in his eyes, eyes glassy and skin of porcelain and mixed with the color of granite around his eyes. He did look like a doll, so empty that he was.

"It's all about you. Have you ever wondered _how_ you became like this?" Frost began to walk.

"_Why_ you've become like this?" Ice frosted over at his heels.

"And _when_?" Eyes glazed over as he reached behind him.

"Fear not." He mocked.

"Because all of those answers are right here." Jack removed his hand from behind him to reveal the carefully made memory box from lead that ihad/i originated from the center of the Earth.

Pitch looked from the box to the boy. No... that wasn't possible! He blinked a few times, but the box in the Winter Spirit's grasp didn't disappear.

"How..." He breathed out, backing away.

"Oh come on, you don't have to be that surprised do you? Toothiana's not the only one who works with memories." Jack stepped forward.

"You are a Winter Spirit! How-"

"Winter Spirit I may be, but there are tons of spells that deal with memory that are just up my alley. Honestly, the hardest part was making the box." The sprite tossed the box up into the air and caught it.

"Don't you want it Pitch? You're memories? Everything you've ever wanted to know, in this little box." The Frost child chucked the box at the Boogieman who caught it on reflex. It was then that Pitch remembered why he was here.

"What did you do?" The Older man exclaimed in horror.

Frost giggled.

"That's not the point Black. It's more like, what did _you_ do." The boy laughed as he dropped into the unfrozen water beneath him. When had that happened?

Pitch ran forward, trying to get the boy but the lake had already re-frozen. Pitch looked up in horror as he saw one of the Nightmares, _his_ Nightmares running by. And then another, and another.

_What...? What was happening?_

Pitch looked down at the engraved metal box with horror.

"What have I done...?"

* * *

**0-0 AHHHHH! My hands have minds of their own!**

**When I first began brainstorming for this chapter I planned for Pitch to somehow end up in Antarctica and for him to save the center Jack after the kidnapping.**

**T-T That plan went down the drain after this.**

**Sigh... I hope OP liked this!**

**Review Responses:**

**ImNotSupposedtoBeHere: Hehe :D Thank you for leaving me a review and I like your trail of thoughts hehe :). And no, I'm the evil one because I'm writing things T-T. And about Seraphina... yes she is like a child, in ways. **

**Guest: No... no they aren't :( thought they probably are getting worse for Pitch at the moment...**

**Phantom Trainer: You think I haven't though of that? I don't actually know what I'm going to do about that yet (I have a million scenarios running through my head)**

**sarafine-ecleips: All of the Guardian's centers have physical forms when they're ripped out (in my mind). Since Jack died as a child his center is a child. And yes, she ripped it out of him and without his center Jack is just a shell filled with hurt and the need for revenge.**

**FoxxyRyukiChan: That depends on how it turns out... I might be a little _too _evil.**


	9. The Past is NOT the Past!

**Hi people! I know you are going to hate me for the rest of my life but I feel like I need to add a few extra scenes.**

**...**

**What?**

**Did you think I was leaving an abandonment note?**

**Nope, this chapter is going to be a filler chapter explaining some of the events that had happened in Jack's past lifetime.**

**...*Dodges a knife* Oi! No getting violent!.**

**Chapter 9: The past is NOT the past**

* * *

_318 years prior…_

To understand what was happening now, one must look into the past to see the weavings of the tale.

Before Winter's child woke up, he was cold… so very cold. It froze his bones and stopped the beating of his… was that his heart? He didn't understand the word very well but he knew that a non-beating heart was _not _a good thing.

His fingers were black with frostbite and his hair was losing color, the original dark oak slipping from the strands like the water that surrounded him. His eyes remained shut as he tried to think, to remember, to see _something_ that made him understand what was happening.

His skin was next. It had taken on a bluish hue from the cold water around it because of the warmth that had once encompassed his body turning cold. The blue, like the brown of his hair, disappeared and left it with skin nearly as pale as the moon with the exceptions of the few peach color hues that were left.

His chest convulsed as he realized that breath was no longer necessary but too much water in his lungs could still kill him. He flailed, at least he tried to; he still couldn't _move_ and it was scaring him. And then he finally found the power to open his eyes which had turned an icy blue.

They looked up to see darkness and he could finally no longer feel death at his heels or the cold on his skin. It was… comforting and for some reason, some part of him wanted to stay like that…

And then came the moon. The Frost Child remembered thinking that it had been so big, and so _bright_. It had pulled him out of the comforting darkness and into a much colder and darker reality.

He would never forgive the moon for that.

And he would forgive the moon for not talking him after the bright globe in the sky told him his name:

_Jack Frost. Your name is Jack Frost_

_308 year prior_

It had been ten years since Jack was pulled out of the lake and… you could say that he wasn't faring very well…

When he first found that he could not touch other people he was heartbroken. After his discovery he had a long talk with himself, asking what he had done to deserve this, what he _was_ and especially about how long it would be like this.

He eventually concluded that he was apparently a terrible person and that he _must_ have done something to deserve this.

He continued to wander, threw a few snowballs here and there for the next few decades.

It wasn't until he was around fifty did he run into some uh… _problems_ with the big hubby of Winter.

Old Man Winter.

_268 years prior_

Jack was close to a break down at this point. He had tried _everything_. He had written his name in the snow only for it to be either stepped on or brushed away before anyone could read it, he had had his fun with the children... what else was there that he could do?

At 50 years Jack knew other spirits existed but... he had yet to actually ever meet one.

That year everything changed for him AND got him Seraphina's attention.

How? You ask

By beating _the_ Old Man Winter at his own games.

Old Man Winter usually wore a heavy ice blue robe that covered him neck to feet. He had coal black eyes and wrinkles lining his pale face. He had long white hair tucked in his robe and a long beard to match. He, like Jack, went barefoot.

The human world knew the Old winter spirit as a cranky old man who didn't care about anything. The myth was only _half_ true. The Old Man was actually very cruel and _demented_ in nature. He particularly liked to torture children with frostbite. Frozen limbs, frozen eyes and everything in between! As you can imagine, Jack wasn't someone who encouraged this but was considered someone far less than the Spirit of Winter in status of power.

However, there was something about Jack that little to nobody knew.

Jack Frost could be just as demented and scary as Old Man Winter but then he would be called by another name, a name that only the Native American spirit Raven, and the Norse gods Loki and Thor knew him by:

Jokul Frosti.

The legend of Jokul Frosti apparently came around far before the Frost child was born though it held no merit. No, however, there was some value to the myth seeing as how _well_ Jack could mimic the in place personality set by the people:

Loving to hurt those who got in his way check,

Hating people in general check,

Loving to make people's lives difficult check,

And most importantly,

Feeling no remorse for the deaths of any spirits, gods, or humans; Even if they were by his own hand.

...let's just say that Old Man Winter was in _big_ trouble.

-x-

Apparently the Old, and seemingly frail, winter spirit had never been informed of Jack's birth. It made him angry that he was apparently ignored by the other seasonal spirits in this matter. It was then that he decided that he was going to make them pay by... _playing _with the only other Winter spirit to be created in over a millennia.

Playing, killing, what was the difference?

When the bringer of Winter traveled to _meet_ with Jack, the Frost child was in a very i_bad_/i mindset. The Winter sprite had been ignored one too many times.

The poor child was on his knees, his head practically in his lap when the Old man arrived. The Elder walked forward, his feet making crackling noises in the snow underneath him as he traveled onto the ice until he stood less than a meter in front of Winter's child.

It was now that Jack realized that he was no longer alone. His eyes widened at seeing frostbitten toes. His eyes slowly shifted up until they met stone cold eyes and in that instant he knew that whoever this guy was, he was not going to be friendly. Due to his previous breakdown, he wasn't able to think clearly, nor was he able to move when Winter's Incarnate reached down and grabbed him by the collar of his old and torn cloak.

Jack let out a cry as the cloak ripped and he fell to the ground, unnaturally clumsy as he scrambled back and stood to his feet. He watched in horror as the piece of cloth in his attackers hand froze over and began to crumble. When it was let go, the thing _dissolved_. Jack shook in terror as he looked up at the man who was... advancing on him. Oh no.

Jack tried to dodge the ice blast, he really did but... Old Man Winter had _lots_ more practice at this than he did. Unlike when Jack used his ice beams, this pierced through his skin like it had been an ice fragment that had been launched at him. Jack put his hand to his bleeding arm as he slipped and fell against the edge of the lake.

"What do you want from me! I didn't do anything!" The child cried as he picked himself up again and began to walk backwards.

"But you have done something. You exist." Another ice beam. This one hit his right side barely missing an organ.

"B-but!-"

"Silence!" Another blow to the cheek but this time given by the wind.

Jack looked up in shock feeling betrayal. The Wind had... the Wind had hurt him! The Spirit that was the Wind cried out in sorrow, trying to apologize but it couldn't control herself. Winter controlled the North Wind, and she was an extension of the North Winds.

His tears gathered in the corners of his eyes as he was continuously beaten with insults and ice shards.

_He's going to kill me..._ The poor sprite thought in his distress. When he felt no more blows he looked up to see the Old Man looking at him with a hideous grin on his aged face.

"Hm. I expected more of a fight from you. How pathetic. So tell me, frost child, how does it feel to be abandoned by the last thing that you cared for? It's not like she ever cared for you."

_She_? The boy absently thought as the wind screeched in his ears though he couldn't understand what it-_she_ was saying.

"It's not like you mean anything to anyone. A freak among spirits. Most spirits can be seen without belief, did you know that?" Jack's eyes widened weakly as he forced his head to turn slightly to face his attacker from where he lay curled up on the snow.

"N-no..." He whimpered. This was not possible, was it?

"Mother Nature doesn't have complete power over you. You belong to someone else."

No... Jack tried to lift himself up only to fall back down."I belong to n-no one." Jack clenched his eyes shut in pain.

"What a pathetic child you are. No belief, no one to care for you. You've only felt pain in this life from others. What little joy you have in this life you somehow manage to create yourself."

Jack was supporting himself by his elbow and had one shaking hand in front of himself, trying to keep himself from shaking. It upset him terribly. It was all true too, completely true. The tears in his eyes fell, turning into solid ice before they hit the ground.

"Why don't you accept that you don't belong in this world? That you're worthless and that you will never, _ever_ have anyone that cares. That would be willing to be your _family_." Jack couldn't stop shaking. The older man's cold and scratchy voice resonated through him, telling him things that he had been desperately trying to deny.

There _was_ no use.

Jack's shaking stopped, the small effort he made to raise himself from the snow bed failed and he fell back into the snow drift. His eyes were glazed over as thoughts ran through his mind. Thoughts that weren't his own.

"Oh, you've finally given up. Good. Then it will be easier to kill you." The older man produced an ice sword that had apparently been strapped to his belt, not like Jack really cared anymore. His body was moved until his chest was face up.

Old Man Winter held up the sword, not seeing the way Jack's body stilled or how the snow and ice cracked underneath him, the frost that had once taken beautiful shapes, now turning into what looked like the bare tree branches and twigs that were ever present in the Winter season with Spring blooming trees.

And then the Spirit of Winter struck down.

There was a resonating clap, not the sound of ice going through flesh, but from hands slapping together and catching the blade of the sword right before it went through his chest. Jack's hair fanned slightly as the bangs grew heavy with icicles that made it look longer.

Jack chuckled, his teeth pulling apart in a crazy grin revealing newly developed fangs.

And... let's just say that the end result left Old Man Winter in pieces, literally.

It was only a few months later when Jack was practically dragged into the duty of being the bringer of Winter, hence his first meeting with Mother Nature and her scaring the crap out of the poor new Winter Spirit.

And don't forget that he had ruined his only cloak. It took him centuries to find something that he liked. It turned out to be a baggy blue piece of cloth called a 'hoodie'.

And it was after that did the Moon's influence begin to seem so much smaller and inferior than it was supposed to be.

_246 years prior_

Nearly two decades later Jack was beginning to get used to his new role. He was constantly busy, not giving himself time to brood over the fact that he had no belief. During Winter he had little to no time to himself, always traveling to make sure that everything was the way it was supposed to be. Then there was the fact that over the years he was beginning to get extremely _tired_ during his off season when before it was completely natural if he was able to stay awake sometime without sleep. Now, however... it was getting harder to resist the call.

It was then that he began to fear forgetting what little of who he knew he was. It hurt when he realized that he had forgotten to give a kid a snow day with no other reason but it was because he was _busy_. Being the Spirit of a Season was so _confusing_ especially when there were two sides of himself that were constantly _fighting_ with each other.

One called for him to simply do his job. Shepherd the clouds, put the soil to rest in the fall, and prepare the Earth for Spring.

The other yelled at him, telling him that he was an idiot for wanting to do things like work, and keeping deadlines. It wanted him to play! To have fun!

It was so conflicting sometimes...

Jack sighed as he was held up by the wind. He swirled around a few clouds, pulling them into a cluster together. If the spirits that knew about him figured out that he _was_ deadlines and work they would have a fit. He hoped no one _would_ find out.

_62 years prior_

The second time he met _the_ Mother Nature aka his Boss, she asked him to help her.

He remembered on that day that he was behind schedule and that he had two continents to cover when she had come along. He supposed that she was allowed to do that because he thought that she cared about what was going to happen to the world enough to know what would break and keep a balance.

...

...

He really shouldn't have made assumptions like that now that he thought about it.

The Frost child had been traveling along a widespread current along to the UK when he had seen a thunder cloud. There weren't supposed to i_be/_i any thunder clouds in the area where he had been traveling.

The only person who he knew that traveled by Lightning was...

...

The last person he wanted to see at the moment.

The woman had pounced on him the minute he had landed on the Earth of the forest. She had come to him a flurry of tears and clammy palms, grappling at his face and talking with slurred words. It scared him to see the normally composed Mother of all seasons so distraught.

"Please. I need your help..." The woman had moaned and it was then that Jack had realized that it was no accident that he was here.

She had summoned him without Jack ever realizing it.

"How?" He had asked. Despite his fear of her, he had grown attached to the woman that he was supposed to call mother.

"My father... I need my father! You must help me return him to me!" Jack had stared at her confused. Her father? She had a father?

He had thought that she had been created when Earth was born, from the soil that they stepped on.

"Your...father?" He had asked and the woman had frantically nodded and clutched at his sweater before he was dragged down into the ground.

The Frost boy had squirmed, had screamed for a bit before slamming into a surface. Before opening his eyes he let his hands roam and immediately deduced that he had landed on grass. Jack had opened his eyes to be greeted by the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

The place could only be described as nothing less than a spring paradise. The place was practically flowing with magic. It was incredibly large, twice the size of Bunnymund's warren and that was saying something. It was filled with lush covered hills and meadows. Then there were the areas filled with different kinds of trees, some that didn't even exist anymore. There was the center which was, in Jack's opinion, the best part of the place. Four fountains that had had water flowing from every part of the Sanctuary (through the cracks of the ground, through the i_air_/i) came together in a cross symbol that went down and led into a large pond that shone and glistened. The fountain water traveled from nearly 30 meters in the air into the pool. The stones that guarded the center did not show where the water came from.

Jack carefully walked along the water's edge, now noticing that along the walls there were different symbols. A snowflake, a leaf, a flower, and a burning ember. The four seasons.

Jack's eyes shimmered as he looked around the Sanctuary.

"You are the first who has had the privilege of delving this deep into my domain." Jack had snapped his head around so fast that he nearly got whiplash.

She stood on the other side in the shadows as she walked under the waterfall. Jack ran after her, leaping on the pond, turning certain parts of it into ice. It turned out that there were caves behind each of the waterfalls.

Jack was barely able to keep up with her as she traveled through the dark cavern.

"Wait! W-Where are you taking me?" He asked, stuttering slightly.

"Somewhere in which you can learn to understand my dilemma." The dark cave suddenly got incredibly bright. Jack had to cover his eyes for a moment. When he removed his hands he was once again stunned at what he saw.

Drawings. Beautiful hand carved pictures that seemed to resonate within Jack. They depicted battles, histories, time periods, and so many other stories printed on the walls of the seemingly normal cave.

Jack couldn't take his gaze away from the stone.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" It was then that the Frost Child realized, again, that he wasn't alone.

"Uh—Y-yes, it is. W-what is it?" The boy couldn't help but stutter. He was in one of the most beautiful places on this planet with the most powerful woman on the earth.

"They're drawings of the Golden Ages." Jack's eyebrows furrowed.

"The… the Golden Ages?" On the walls there were pictures of hundreds of planets, of hundreds of _worlds_ that the Frost boy didn't know had even existed.

"The era when the universe was at a time of peace and advancement, when light rang supreme over the darkness that tried to control. Those times, however, were destroyed by the coming of Pitch Black." To the right it looked like the planets were withering and whatever light that had been shone on them had been extinguished.

"He was at his most powerful at the time and he hasn't shown himself for many centuries in i_our_/i time so I don't think we will have to worry about that YET. He destroyed the planets, the civilizations, the people. It was a terrible thing to watch." The woman walked behind Jack and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Pitch Black is known as the Boogieman or the Nightmare King here on Earth and he no longer has the powers, or the mindset, that he used to have in those times." Jack looked over his shoulder in confusion.

"But…what does that have to do with me?" He had asked.

"Be silent, I will explain. Pitch Black was not always the Nightmare King. He was once a man." The Frost child jolted and turned around to face Seraphina.

"He was Human?" Jack was confused and the woman simply laughed.

"No no no. Of course not! Humans did not exist in those times."

"B-but, you just said that he was a man!"

"Man is not only just a race child. You should know that by now." Jack shut his mouth.

"He lived and fought in the star constellations." She moved him so that his chest faced the wall in front of him.

"What?!"Did she just say that he was a _star?!_

"You are misunderstanding me. The Star constellations back in the Golden Ages were planets filled to the brim with people. Over the years they shrank with no one to maintain them into the constellations we see today. You see, Pitch Black was once a man named Kozmotis Pitchiner, a great general of his army which was constantly at war."

"…with who?"

"I think you mean, with what. He fought fearlings. They were souls born from darkness that were once a part of the light."

"…"

"Did that not make any sense to you?" Jack stared at her blankly and she sighed.

"Fearlings were once beings of light, but they were corrupted by their desires and their greed. Kozmotis Pitchiner fought these fearlings in a war. His kind won and they locked the fearlings up on the Prison Constellation." Jack's eyebrows remained furrowed.

"The Prison Constellation. It was the planets specifically used put the most deadly and dangerous of creatures. Kozmotis was assigned to guard that gate and prison for the rest of his life.

Instead, something happened, something that released the fearlings and allowed them to possess him. That was how Pitch Black was born." The green dressed woman looked very solemn as she walked in front of the Jack, running her hand along the carved wood.

"Kozmotis Pitchiner... he was my father." Jack's eyes were blown wide and he staggered back as if physically hit.

"Y-your father?" She nodded.

"And this is where you come in." The boy looked at her with confusion. What could he do?

"I cannot go through with this plan by myself and I believe you are the best candidate."

Jack looked bewildered.

_I... I couldn't refuse her. _

_I just couldn't._

The woman in question was close to crying. Her spring green eyes glossy as she looked at her most precious winter sprite.

"Why me?! Of all of your sprites, why would you ask me?" Jack asked looking up at the tall woman in front of him.

She placed one shaking yet pale hand on the frost sprite's shoulder. "I am asking you because you are my youngest, yet my most powerful. Please my frost child. _Please." _The woman begged before throwing her hands around his frosted shoulders.

The immortal teen looked down sadly. He knew what he was about to do would go against everything he believed in and that he would never be the same. Despite knowing this, he knew he had no choice. One desperate look from the older woman and he had melted.

_"Fine,"_ He had said.

_45 years prior_

It had only been a few decades since Jack had agreed to helping Seraphina and he was being stretched beyond belief. He had jobs to do and was _extremely _busy. It annoyed him when people thought that he was nothing but snow balls and fun times! Here was the daily list of annoyances he had to put up with:

One, bringing Winter and painting the leaves in the fall,

Two, still remembering to play with the children and give out snow days,

Three, dealing with Seraphina and her plan to bring back her father,

And Four, personally the most annoying for Jack, ALL OF THE FREAKING FAVORS HE'S BEING ASKED TO DO! And they didn't even wait for him to say yes or no for Nature's sake (Jack had stopped saying 'Oh Moon' and all that _years_ ago)!

Why didn't others understand that he was busy too!

Especially now when apparently there was a blizzard that wasn't supposed to be due until _next_ winter but was coming in early _Spring_ because of reason number three.

He had used up nearly all of his energy for that storm that nearly buried the US in snow. And it wasn't just the US either, the blizzard covered nearly the rest of the other six continents. Mother Nature had promised him that making this big of a storm would not affect the next season (It was bull if you asked him though).

He really _really_ hadn't wanted to do that but he needed to distract Bunnymund so he wouldn't stop or notice him perform the time travel spell.

Yes, time travel.

Seraphina had warned him that Bunnymund tended to interfere when time travelers came into the picture and the Frost Child didn't want that. The elder spirit had made him study and practice Winter magic and universe altering enchantments until he felt like his brain was splitting open.

Jack had barely woken up that morning when he found himself being hauled to his feet and being yelled at. He could barely hear the words but he knew who it was, after all, who else bothered him like this other than Seraphina?

She had made him spend nearly an hour carving patterns in the ice. In the end it looked like a circular flower pattern. Jack wandered around his ice, checking to make sure everything was in order. In the spell he was going to perform, one move wrong and he was dead meat. One thing that he didn't like about this spell was that most of his power was going to be taken _away _from him. Jack was going to be nearly powerless in his time away. This was to make sure that he didn't interfere _too _much.

And while he was away, his powers would be wandering free on the Earth, creating the biggest blizzard in Earth's history.

Mother Nature walked onto the ice and Jack followed. The Frost child held up the decorated lead box in his hands.

"Is... is this going to work?" He was scared. He had went through the motions of the spell millions of times but had never actually i_done_/i it. This was a variant version of the spell that Ombric was known for using when he was simply a wizard a few centuries back.

"Yes. Don't you trust me?" No, the Winter Spirit thought but he didn't dare voice his opinion lest he got a strike to the face for his cheek.

Jack sighed once as he stepped to the very center of his carving. It was so very different from his usual frost and for some reason it looked almost... menacing to him. Maybe it was the fact that he knew that this could kill him.

"Are you ready?" Seraphina asked as she stepped out of the circle and onto the snow bank. The blue eyed boy took deep breaths, closing his eyes for a few moments.

"As ready as I'll ever be." He moaned out as he shifted on the ice and held his staff out.

He did a series of practiced twirls with his staff before slamming it to the ice below. Jack struggled to keep still as the power surged through and within him. The white haired boy grit his teeth as he began to chant the words that he had worked endlessly on to perfect.

_Verba__virtutem__, exaudi __clamorem meum__._

_Vocatus__parere__, __me remittas __in __aurum __tempora __atros!_

With each word power surged through the cracks in the ice and through the indents Jack carved in the ice. It flowed like water in colors of a dark violet and all shades of ice blue as it flowed around Jack who continued to chant. His eyes stared ahead unblinkingly at the person who bid him to do this.

She stared back at him without emotion in those spring green eyes. It was times like these that he could bring himself to conjure true hatred. It grew like a weed and blossomed like a rose. Fast, beautiful, and deadly.

Before Jack could conjure the proper _will_ to attack her he was gone.

In his world he was only gone a few hours.

In the other he existed for _decades_.

* * *

**Yay! I'm done and this turned out to be longer than I expected...**

**Okay, I'm sorry but the filler is not going to end with this. I know you guys are probably upset with me because of this but I think that this is necessary for the story to go on and I really don't want to have to start explaining these things once the story has ended.**

**And what Jack said was this:**

**_Words of power, heed my cry. _**

**_Obey my call, send me back, to the times of Gold turned black._**

**I drew a picture of the circle and I'll post it either on my profile page or as the new cover... don't know yet.**

**Reviews:**

**Fey Beauty: Awwww... thank you! Ya, neither did I lol :D This story is going to be a lot more complicated than I originally thought it would be though.**

**thunder angel13: Thanks :) I know a lot of people are going to hate me for putting up this filler but it's what I gotta do.**

**Phantom Trainer: Hopefully I can get some sympathy back for her in the next chapter or so lol ^-^**

**And... I can tell you now that you are probably not going to expect the ending.**

**Guest: Sorry... Ya, I'm going to tell you sorry right now.**

**akizaki14: Oh, oh wow. I thought people would be hating me by now lol :D**

**And that's it for the reviews!**

**And I know that I'm terrible at descriptions lol ^^;**

**And plz plz plzzzzz review!**


	10. The Past is NOT the past! Pt 2

**I finally got this done! I'm so happy and I thank everyone for waiting patiently :D**

**Chapter 10- The Past is NOT the past Pt2**

* * *

The black haired man looked at the mirror in front of him dully. Why couldn't he just go back to sleep and avoid his peers? He looked down blankly at the bowl of clear substance in front of him.

The general was wearing a loose black cotton shirt that was a few sizes too big and showed off his indented collarbone (Not to mention see-through). Under he wore white genie pants (And yes they are actually called that).

Why in the name of all things light couldn't he remember what he had done the day before? Sometimes Kozmotis woke up with confusion, not remembering what he had done the day before and became very paranoid. He would often tell his friends and officers and they would joke that maybe the _fairies _had taken them.

It infuriated the general to no end that they were teasing him. He would remember bits and pieces, enough to know that he had probably been with his little girl and had been playing with her on his leave.

Pitchiner dipped his hand into the thick essence and clenched it in his fist before raising it over his head. He slowly let the liquid flow from his hand to the hair on his head. Because of how dark his hair already was it didn't look like there was much difference except it had a bit more shine to it. As the middle aged man put his clammy palm to his cheek he thought,

_Maybe I _am g_etting old. _

"Daddy!" He heard a shrill voice cry out and he sighed shaking off the material on his hands before putting on a loving smile as a green and black bundle practically flew into his room and rammed into his legs.

"Good morning darling." Koz smiled, making himself look as strong and happy as he could for his little girl's benefit.

Said little girl bounced on his leg which were held captive in between her arms. The girl wore a light green nightgown and had long flowing black hair. Her eyes were a beautiful spring green that sparkled with delight. Her father was her hero, her savior. He couldn't do no wrong in her eyes.

"Daddy I saw Cold boy!" The five year old squeaked out in her excitement. The general raised his eyebrow.

"Cold boy? Now what are you talking about?" Seraphina let go of her father's leg and grabbed his hand and proceeded to drag her father across the hallway with an impressive amount of strength.

"Sera! When did she get so strong?" Koz asked himself as he rubbed his wrist where she had grabbed him.

Her room was of course decorated all shades of green and the window sill was practically covered with potted plants that Pitchiner had brought back with him on his missions. The girl seemed so fascinated with the green little creatures that never grew near the constellations and instead grew on a newborn planet called _Earth_. She would sometimes say that she would definitely go there when she was big enough.

He looked out the window and saw the stars and the black scenery. He went to put his hand on the window sill before hissing. He immediately pulled away.

_Cold_ he thought before looking at the hard surface. His widened when he saw a pattern. It was _beautiful_. The General reached down and chipped some of it from the brick, examining it.

The thing only lasted for a few seconds before it melted due to Kozmotis' body heat. The man looked at the substance in his hand. It was _wet _like the cleanser he used for washing but it was so much lighter and it did not have the same thickness. He let it drop from his hand to the cold stone floor, the drops making dark marks on the stone.

The man was mesmerized. That was when he was brought back to reality when his daughter threw her stuffed teddy bear at him. It hit his forehead causing him to blink a few times before looking at the attacker who was rolling around on the bed laughing like there was no tomorrow.

"Laughing at your old man, huh?" He teased as he came closer with his hands clasped behind his back.

The girl looked up when she saw his shadow cover her. Her face paled as she saw him coming at her. She shrieked as he descended.

Her screams turned into contagious laughter as she was tickled. She tried to pull her father's hands away from her stomach but it was no use. He was too strong.

"Daddy!" She shrieked out before collapsing on Kozmotis' lap still giggling, her nightgown billowing around her. Her father smiled and gave her an Eskimo kiss while she giggled at the feeling.

He lay his forehead on hers still laughing.

The moment was perfect, the mystery substance forgotten as father and daughter spent time with each other.

What they, however, didn't notice was the face the peered in through the window, watching them with jealousy.

-x-

Jack looked down at the two with sadness. He couldn't deny how much he wished someone looked at him with the inch of compassion that Pitch held for Seraphina.

He sighed looking down at himself.

He stuck out like a sore thumb wearing his worn out white cotton shirt and brown colonial pants. He had nearly fallen off of one random person's roof when someone had called out to him, saying that he was going to fall and hurt himself. It surprised him to great degrees that someone could see him here. And not only someone, but _everyone. _He had tried to walk through the town's market only to be bumped into with every step he took.

He might have knocked down a few tables and colored a few faces with bright red but he had mostly come out of the situation unharmed, 'sides the slap mark he bore on his cheek. He had also noticed the odd looks he had previously been getting. A few street children had come up to him and had _poked _at him. The child had asked him what type of make-up he had been wearing. It still made his heart pound thinking about his talk with the child.

_The market place looked like something that had came right out of a fairy tale. Tapestries hanging against glazed windows and silk like cloths were hung in the air using the high brick buildings as support for the edges. Jack spun around as he stared in awe. His right hand immediately clenched and he nearly fell when he didn't feel the familiar weight of the staff to lean on. He looked at his hand with regret and hate buried in his stomach. He had forgotten that he didn't _have _his staff with him._

_It angered him that the spell that he had performed stripped him of his staff:_

_"You cannot take an item of power with you Jack." _

_That was bull if he had ever heard it and it annoyed him to the moon and back. Well... he didn't think that he could do that because he didn't even know where the moon was at the moment! Jack sighed before looking around only to notice that there were people staring...at him? He looked behind him and to the sides. It was only when he felt something tug at his shirt did he realize that they were staring at _him_. He looked down to see a boy with black hair and alabaster skin staring right back up at him. It stunned Jack seeing the way the boy's honey comb eyes shimmered with fascination._

_"Ummm..." Jack stammered as the boy continued looking up at him. He had never actually talked with a child (though he had dreamed of doing so before) and now that the situation had presented itself, he didn't know what to do._

_"What are you?" was the question that came out of the boy's mouth and it made Jack jump._

_"W-what am I? I'm human," he replied pointing to himself and the boy's eyebrows frilled._

_"Human? So you aren't a __hrímthurs__? Or maybe a __ijiraq__? " The boy asked, confused at the word 'human'. Jack's eye brows rose in confusion. He had never heard of anyone called _ijraqi_._

_"Umm... no. Should I know what those are?" The Frost child shrugged._

_The boy gaped at the Frost child before he did something unexpected. He grabbed Jack's arm and yanked down, hard. The blue eyed spirit fell to the floor from the sheer amount of strength the boy exerted. He then remembered that these people weren't human like he was, or used to be..._

_Jack was pulled out of his reverie when he felt hands on his face and he looked up in surprise as the boy pulled back with a sharp gasp._

_"Cooeee!" The younger squealed as he blew on his hand to warm it back up._

_By now Jack had felt like he had over stayed his 'invitation'_

After that incident, he had high tailed right out of that market, causing havoc as he had clumsily tried to dodge the amounts of people that were walking by him. He needed a new outfit, that was for sure.

And now here Jack was, sitting on top of the roof of Kozmotis Pitchiner, soon to be Pitch Black in a couple of decades. He still couldn't wrap his mind around this.

He was billions of years in the past. One blink. Everyone could _see _him. Two blinks. And literally everything surprised him!

First of all, there was no damn _water. _It baffled him. He had thought that all creatures had to have water to survive but it turned out here water, therefore ice, was a foreign concept to them. That, and there was no plant life here. Everything was made from some type of weird rocks and Mim knows what else. However, the thing that alarmed him most was that there were no _humans!_ Seraphina had warned him but it hadn't hit home until now.

The white-haired boy was extremely pissed at Seraphina for never telling him that people could _see _him! That still blew him away.

But now that they _could _see him he realized just how _different _he was.

Jack had white hair while others had brown or black.

Jack had the palest skin while others had some type of color in them (usually a blackish tint for those who rarely went star gazing and a tan for those who did go star gazing often. And then there was the occasional pale skin but that was rare).

Jack was wearing something that they had never seen before and they were badly tattered and he wore no shoes! Oh course he was an anomaly among these people... it wouldn't have been much different if these people were modern day humans either...

Even when people could see him, he still felt all alone in a crowd. People avoided him, telling their children to stay away from the "strange" boy.

It was then that he realized that even if he did have belief, nothing would change. He would still be lonely, so very lonely. It was that day that he had stopped longing for belief, where he tossed that "dream" away.

It turned out that Jack had been so so _wrong _when he thought that being invisible was the worst thing in the world. It turned out that being seen and thought to be a _freak _was worse. It was somewhat bearable when they couldn't see him, but now that they _could _but looked at him as if he were the devil come to steal his children, he wondered why he even bothered.

It wasn't like that was what he wanted anymore anyway.

Jack looked down onto the streets seeing a lone family walk through the streets at a fast pace in order to get home.

He wanted a _family._Someone to take care of him and care for him. Someone who watched out for him and set rules and limitations. He had lived long enough to know that the reason parents did that was because they loved their kids.

The poor boy's eyes narrowed in sadness as he watched the child bounce with energy with his parents holding both of his hands. Jack looked down at his own pale hand and nearly gasped at seeing how pale he looked. In the light of the stars he looked like a ghost. Jack leaned against the chimney and slid down the rough exterior. The poor boy pulled his knees up until they were under his chin and buried his head in his lap. His shoulders shook as he dry heaved.

Jack didn't have a family, he didn't have _anything. _Who would want a twisted Winter Spirit?

Not even the Winter Court had accepted him. In his first few years they had taken him in and taught him the basics. They were, however, nothing like a family. They held the boy at double arms length and talked about how strange he was when they thought he wasn't there or wasn't listening. How strange it was that he laughed with his mouth wide open and how he _smiled. _ He was the white sheep of the family. The light that didn't fit in the dark. They had one day thrown him out and left him to fend for himself. Jack had cried for i_years/i _after that.

He had met minor sprites in his time but no one wanted to be friends with him. He represented Winter . Almost all spirits considered Winter as the equivalent of death. There were some who got violent with him like the sprites of Summer (and that was another thing, all of the Spirits of Seasons have helpers except the Frost child).

Jack only wished that...

The boy quickly shook his head. He couldn't let himself think like this! He had survived for centuries and he would survive more! Jack silently rose himself to his feet and looked down onto the bare streets and the empty shops void of people, and of locks. Apparently people here didn't know the definition of 'steal' here. How was that even possible?

Jumping down from the roof he hid in the shadows. The adults here feared the shadows immensely. It was why they tried to avoid them as much as possible, in fear that a fearling might take one of them away. He entered a random store that, of course, didn't have a door. Most shops here didn't. He looked around picking at the fabrics. They all felt too rough to his touch but then something caught his eyes. It was a blue fabric that looked like it was from something that human's in Jack's day used for almost everything (In Jack's mind, he didn't really look at what the adults did anymore when he wasn't making their lives difficult). He fingered it from its' place on the rack. It was actually thin to his touch and also a bit... _fluffy_ though it didn't look it.

His face scrunched up as he removed the cloth from the hanger and mentally searched his memory to see where he had seen this before. His eyes widened when he realized that this was what humans called a 'hood'. This looked just like one! He carefully examined the jacket, trying to see what was different. That was when he saw that the shoulders were frosting. He panicked for a minute before realizing that the frost wasn't damaging the article of clothing. It seemed resistant to the cold.

Jack looked at his own clothes. All he wore besides his brown worn pants was the white cotton shirt and the brown vest that he had first had when he woke up from the lake. They were terribly worn and the previously white shirt had turned brown and was ripped up. The leather of his vest was starting to yellow and it was falling apart. He looked back to the jacket and weighed the pros and cons. Pros, he got a new outfit. Cons... what was there to be afraid of?

The next morning while everyone was on their way to their daily business, Jack was walking out into the streets wearing a new jacket with the hood up. He looked left and right before stuffing his hands into his pockets and blending into the crowd.

On particular person, a dark haired, and green eyed adult with a weary face behind a vending cart, examined the boy. The man sold plants that he traveled onto different planets to receive. The vender looked the teen up and down, eyeing his bare feet and tattered pants. The man's eye narrowed in sympathy. Poor thing, must have been homeless. Maybe his parents kicked him out?

"Oi! Son!" The man exclaimed and smiled when he saw the boy turned around. A pale hand pointed to the blue clad chest.

"Yes you boy, now come here." The older man beckoned to the barefoot boy.

The boy fidgeted as he made his way over to the other who smiled gently, assuring that he was in no trouble. The man wriggled his hand around in his pockets before pulling something out.

"Kid, look. I'll give ya five silver Dirhams. I want you ta use this money ta buy yourself somethin' for yerself. I can see through that cloth like it was thin air. Damn skinniest boy I've ever seen. You're a fine young man and ya should take care of yerself," the man spoke like he knew what he talking about and all Jack could do was stare at the man in surprise.

No one had ever shown him this kind of hospitality. He snapped himself out of the reverie so he could reply.

"I can't take this from you! I-I..." the boy couldn't stop stuttering before moving his head up to meet the vender's eyes.

It nearly took the man's breath away. Such pure and innocent blue eyes, yet they were so filled with hurt and pain. Such beautiful yet pained eyes that the boy held... and he could almost distinctly see some type of shape in them though he didn't know what it was. The Elder continued to insist that the boy take the money. In the end, Jack did take it with gentle hands.

The first act of generosity he had ever received and it had been from the hands of a man that wouldn't exist in a few decades. The boy nearly cried but held in his tears as he bowed to the man and walked away careful to not walk too fast. He couldn't help the tears that fell from eyes even then...

-x-

And this was how it was, everyday Jack would watch the Pitchiner family from a far and if he found that a certain memory was something worth saving he would come at night and take it from the soon to be Boogieman.

In his free time he would visit the vender who he had come to know as 'Spring'. The man had furrowed his eyebrows at the winter spirit but had accepted the name because Jack refused to call him anything else. Jack would help out the man with handling the plants, even giving him some advice on how to care for them. When the blue eyed boy mentioned them needing water the man looked terribly confused. Jack nearly fell. How could you bring plants to a place where there was no water? Jack had to sneak his ice into the soil where it melted so the plants wouldn't die. For some reason he didn't like the thought of failing Spring. He had no idea how Seraphina kept her flowers alive with the lack of water...

And speaking of Seraphina... or more like her father...

He empathized with the poor man. Kozmotis had friends, he had a daughter that he loved with all of his heart, and he was a kind man at heart. To think that he had become the Nightmare king... but how?

Jack was still _very _curious on the matter of how Pitch became the way he was in the modern world. Seraphina had told him that he had gone away to guard a prison and the gates had somehow opened...

But really, what had actually happened? Was the general tainted with greed like the fearlings or was it something else?

And now... it was the final day.

"Father please don't go!" A woman cried out as she clung to a man clad in silver and gold armor. The top of her head came to his shoulder. The aged man looked down sadly at his daughter who had finally reached her sixteenth birthday and was finally due to the arranged agreement that was placed by the high council. They were at the front steps of the large house that they lived in. It was one of the houses in the entire compound. The other houses were smaller and belonged to other family members and servants that owed them debt.

She had grown into a beautiful woman with long black locks like her mother though she had her father's bone structure: a pointed nose and sharp cheekbones. Her eyes were wide almond shaped and she had pale skin that was expected of a woman of her status. She wore a traditional green dress that trailed behind her. It was intricate and made by her own hand, it was after all, her family's custom. Her figure was nearly as regal as her father though she had a more childlike tone to her, still not understanding of the things that came with a high position and was very much in denial.

"I have to go my nature girl. It is my duty." He said pushing her back as he cupped her cheek in his hand. She pressed into it as thick tears of sap slid down from her eyes.

"Why can't someone else do it? They have other able men to take your place!" She exclaimed pushing her face back into his chest and clinging to his ceremonial red cape that lagged behind him.

"It is my duty to bear. And you have a life to live my precious flower. I have left you in the hands of someone I trust." He said kissing her forehead.

"B-but I do not wish for this! I do not wish to be married!" She exclaimed as more tears fell from her eyes.

Her father's eyes narrowed in sympathy. He too had been forced into marriage at a young age but it had been for the best. His mother had been in the army and had wanted someone to take care of him when she was no longer there. Father Pitchiner had been a hopeless drunk who would come home at night and start fighting with his wife. Kozmotis' mother always thought he was asleep during these times, when she was at her weakest and couldn't do anything but take what her husband gave her. She was cruel at times, strict at _all _times, but she cared deeply for the general. She had betrothed him when he was only twelve. Kozmotis wouldn't lie, he threw a fit just as his daughter did when she found out. Unlike Koz who had taken all the bashing from his daughter and let her tire herself out before explaining, his mother had gone _bat crazy_ on him. She had made sure to leave permanent bruises on his wrists and scars on his lower back from being slashed at with a sword. It was the last time he even thought about talking back to his mother.

"But it is what will happen my dear. I want someone to take care of you when I cannot." Seraphina stayed quiet at that.

"...When will you be back?" The poor man simply shook his head as the poor girl sobbed harder into his armor.

He wouldn't wrap his arms around her, he wouldn't wrap his arms around her...

He kept telling himself this even though his body simply did not want to obey. In the end he raised his arms and pushed her away. It was then that her fiancé (A tall man who had short brown hair and blue eyes that matched pale skin; He too wore a uniform similar to the general but much less intricate) came into the room. He had sad eyes while he looked to his to be wife and then back to his general. The dark eyed man mouthed something to his soldier and the other replied with a solemn nod.

He fast walked towards his betrothed and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. She cried out at the surprise attack. She looked to her father for help but only got a sad frown. She gasped as she raised her arms to hit whoever was holding her but they were taken into someone's hands and pinned behind her back as she was forced down to the ground. Like most of her kind she was extremely strong, but her strength exceeded the norm. It took effort to hold her down. Pretty soon more people were coming into the room to restrain her as she bucked and yelled and cursed. She looked back again to her father, pleading, but he simply turned around and walked away.

"F-father!" She cried out but he continued to walk.

Her mouth was open wide as she screamed and cried and yelled out insanities. Eventually she couldn't do much more than blubber as the tears filled her eyes to the brim and fell down her china face. She watched through blurred vision as her father disappeared from sight.

"D-daddy?" She cried out silently as her body went still.

"DADDYYYYYY!" She screamed again as she pressed her forehead to the ground and continued to sob.

Jack watched this all with wide eyes from the side, in the narrow alley between two of the buildings in the compound. The memory box in his hand began to dull from its previous glow as it stopped recording the event. He slid down the wall as he tried to contain sobs.

_Oh I am so sorry Seraphina... I am _so _sorry _

The poor boy thought as he curled into himself.

-x-

After that incident Jack had shakily stood to his feet and escaped from the compound as quickly as he could, not wanting to be there a second longer than he was supposed.

It was now that he wondered how he was supposed to get to the Prison constellation. That was where he was supposed to get his last memory. So... how was he supposed to get there now?

Jack examined the sky... uhh...or the black space around him. He couldn't fly that was for sure. He didn't want to accidently be sucked into a black hole or get lost by accident. He did _not _want that.

Jack slipped to the ground and sighed. What was he going to do?

"Hey stranger, you seem down." He jumped with a yelp and turned around. His eyes widened in surprise at what he saw.

A girl with white hair that looked to be around his age with skin that looked _paler/_than his! She wore armor that stuck flat to her skin, unlike most female warriors in this time period who wore metal dresses and carried around large weapons. She also held a staff that looked like it was made from ice in her hand and had what looked like a claw grabber in one of those crane games that liked to cheat people out of their money at the bottom and a much bigger one at the top that was drawn back in a way that made it look like it would strike. The thing was nearly the size of her head! Her eyes were a stunning dark blue, much darker than Jack's and she towered above him from where he was sitting on the ground.

He quickly stood up and realized that she was actually a bit shorter than him.

"Sorry if I startled ya but you seemed like a good lad who's been through a few horrors. Wanna tell good ol' Joy 'bout it?" She asked smirking in a playful way. Her accent wasn't of anything that he had heard on this constellation so apparently she wasn't from here.

"Joy?" He asked raising his eyebrow though she couldn't see it.

She nodded smiling. "Full name's Joyce but no one calls me that anymore. Sides, full names are for pansies." She said leaning against the wall in a way that was unintentionally seductive.

Jack gulped as a his face turned purple. He prayed that she couldn't see his face.

"So what's this I hear about ye needing to head to the prison constellation," she asked and at first Jack thought that he had misheard because of how casual she had sounded when she had said it.

"W-what?! Where did you hear that?" Jack tried to laugh it off, he really did but Joy wasn't one to give up so easily.

"Give me a reason." The winter spirit's eyebrows furrowed.

"Reason?" He echoed.

"Reason why I should take ya?" She said smirking and turning to look back at him. Jack's draw dropped.

"Y-you would take me?!" He exclaimed. His problem was solved!

"I asked ya ta give me a reason lad." She repeated and his smile turned upside down.

He wreaked his brain trying to find a reasonable explanation. He couldn't say, 'I need to go to the prison constellation because I need to gather a memory from Kozmotis Pitchiner because I am being demanded to by his desperate daughter.'

She nodded, her smirk never leaving her face.

"Fair enough." His head spun to look at her with shock.

"Did I mention that I could read thoughts? Whoops, I forgot to mention that didn't I?" Jack paled to a near white. She had hear what he had been thinking?!

"Yes, yes I did." He was fully prepared to run when he felt something grab his sweater and hold him back.

It turned out that the claw on the top of her staff wasn't just for show. The thing had closed on the hood of his jacket without tearing the fabric. He gulped as his hood fell from his face revealing white hair and pale skin. She barely lifted an eyelid.

"Do ya want the ride or not?" Her eyes narrowed in amusement. Was this girl capable of feeling anger?

"B-but- I mean yes! Of course I do! But, why?" He couldn't stop stuttering. He was nervous, especially knowing the fact that she could call on other people at any moment to show them the 'anomaly' that she had found.

"You're in a tight jam. Besides, fellow guardians help each other out." The claw let go of Jack and his eyes widened as he turned around to face her and took in her appearance carefully.

Smirk that almost never left her face, marks running down from her eyes to her chin, and the staff made from pure ice... Oh Mim he was talking to-

"Joyce Winters, Guardian of Happiness and Fun times at your service." She said doing an extravagant bow.

Jack was wide and dry mouthed. He was talking to his _predecessor. _

"I-I'm so sorry! I-" She held up her hand.

"Oh shush, don't talk so much." She pat his cheek as she headed towards the direction of where they kept all of the ships.

"Well? Are you coming?" She waved for Jack to follow her. He quickly pulled up his hood and did as she asked.

Ok, now _this _was an adventure.

"You can say that again."

"Stop reading my mind!"

-x-

It hadn't taken too much time for them to get on the ship. The thing was beautiful. It was obviously made out of wood but the thing was almost completely covered helm to back in elegant frost. It surprised him to see that there was no crew. At least that was what he had thought.

It turned out that her crew consisted of spirits of joy and purity. Complete white balls of energy that somehow ran the ship by themselves with the occasional directions of the captain, Joyce herself.

It was... liberating in a word. There was so much joy, so much pure _happiness _and emotion that it overwhelmed him. It was the most amazing thing that he had ever experienced.

Throughout the whole ride Joy surprisingly kept quiet from the helm of the ship, looking out into the cosmos. Jack was sure she had a billion of questions running through her mind but she refused to voice any of them. When they had docked Jack voiced his inquiry. She simply replied:

_"I have no need to know the future because I live in the present. I do not wish to know what is to come because that spoils the fun in finding out for myself."_ She had giggled once before turning to go back to her ship.

However, before she left she gave him a present. It was held in a satin black

_It's some of my stardust. It will bring you light in the darkest of your hours. Don't worry Frost child, things must get worse to get better. I hope you know to live by that statement. _And with that she had disappeared into the mist that surrounded the planet.

Jack hadn't been surprised by how dreary the place was. It was completely barren, devoid of any and all life just like he had expected. He clutched the pouch in his hand before storing it in his pocket. For the thousandth time he wished he had his staff with him.

Time seemed to pass quickly and it took him a while to notice the dark voices that whispered around him. They told terrible things. They promised gold, glory, and they pleaded and pleaded. Jack turned the corner and nearly gasped before ducking down behind the wall. He then let out a breather before turning to peak out from behind the wall again.

It was there that Kozmotis Pitchiner stood in front of a large gate with a locket in his hand and a face of steel listening to the sounds and voices of a thousand fearlings.

Jack was clutching his stomach as it rolled in disgust and terror. He barely remembered to remove the time box from his pocket and chant the words to activate it. It glowed dimly as he heard a small voice.

_Daddy? Won't you open the door? Daddy? _It spoke resonating throughout the cold, metal building and Jack recognized it as a younger version of Seraphina. Surely Kozmotis wouldn't be fooled by this right?

The man's eyes lit up as he turned around only to see the door. His eyes grew steeled with realization.

_Daddy? I'm trapped in here in the dark. Won't you come help me? Save me? Please Daddy. _The voices continued to speak as the general clutched the locket in his hand, his eyes grew wider as they blurred.

Oh no. Jack was finally understanding what had happened.

The elder man couldn't take it anymore. His face contorted with panic as he reached for the doors. Jack had to clutch at the walls to keep him from running after the man and shaking him silly. He couldn't change the past, he knew that. Jack burrowed his head into his arm as he heard the gate open. He didn't want to see this, he couldn't! Jack covered his ears when he heard the screaming begin and couldn't help but open his eyes.

They watered at what they saw. Thousands upon thousands of shadow like fearlings poured into the jailor as he screamed in pure agony. Jack choked on his next breath as he looked down at the Memory box.

It was then that he heard laughter. His eyes raised up again to look at the newly formed Pitch Black, completely in the control of the fearlings that had entered him. He was dripping with what looked like black ink as he slowly began to move. Jack quickly silenced the glow of the box knowing that his job was done. He got up to his feet and turned around only to bump into something, or should he say _someone. _

"That's a no-no boy." Jack raised his eyes to see the person he was hoping that he wouldn't bump into.

E Aster Bunnymund in his former glory. Staff with the egg and the ridiculous outfit that looked ancient. And then there were the glasses that looked absolutely hilarious on the Pooka.

However, Jack was too horrified to feel anything other than fear. He would get a kick out of the future Bunnymund later, right now he had to get _away. _

Jack turned around to run but something caught him and pulled him back into Aster's chest. It turned out to be a furry arm. Jack held on tightly to the memory box as the Pooka tapped him lightly on the head with the egg on his staff. And then everything blurred out from there.

-x-

Jack had of course ended up back in his time period. He thanked whatever god that was watching him that he was able to keep the memory box that he had carried around for decades. He also smiled at the fact that he was able to keep the blue jacket that he had taken from one of the stores.

The two things, however, that he treasured the most was the small pouch of stardust and the five dirhams that Spring had given him the day that they had met.

* * *

**Oh my god I'm done with the filler! Yay! Now I can get on with the story which I bet most of you are yelling at me for not doing sooner.**

**Jack: Did you expect any of this guys? Did ya? Did y-**

**Anna: Oh shut up.**

**Jack: What? I get my first two friends and that's NOT a big deal?**

**Anna: Don't forget that they are most likely dead in the modern times.**

**Jack: *begins to cry***

**Anna: AHhhhh! I'm sorry Jack! Please don't cry!**

**Okay, some explanation: **

_**An ****ijiraq** is a sort of shape shifter who kidnaps children and hides them away and abandons them._

_**A ****hrímthurs** is any one of the particular tribe of Giants who are made of ice and inhabit a land of eternal cold. They are known to be able to freeze prey or people._

**I can't believe I almost forgot reviews again -_-**

**Reviews:**

**lolxxx: Jack is always going to be pure no matter what the world throws at him :D At least a part of him... 0-0 I'm sorry lol 0_-lll**

**Death by Violet: Thank you for the reviews :) And thank you for not hating me with the fillers :) **

**Mystichawk: Thank you for all of the reviews :D I'm so happy :) **

**Phantom Trainer: Tell me how much sympathy you have for her now lol :) Probably not much but eh, I tried. And this is the last filler so y'all can be happy :D**

**Please comment/review :D I enjoy any and all feedbacks, I will take flames *Holds up fire extinguisher***

**Update: I changed the appearance of the fiancée .**


	11. READ IF YOU VALUE THE INTERNET!

**NEW:Sigh this petition! .gov/petition/ stop-sopa-2013/LMzMVrQF**

VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE!

READ:

A message from dracohalo117 and Leaf Ranger...SOPA is back, that is right people, the bill that is threatening to take away our freedoms on the internet and beyond is BACK, and not only is it back, but it is trying to be passed quietly so nobody notices, SOPA will guarantee that anybody who streams a video, whether it be on youtube, a walkthrough for a video game, or a kid singing a song that is 'copyrighted' they will be treated as a felon, that is right, a FELON, do you understand me? YOU will be treated like the highest form of criminal for uploading a video game walkthrough on youtube, for singing a song on karaoke, hell, you could be arrested and treated as a felon for posting a screenshot...

Now, why am I telling you this? Because this is only just the beginning, how long until Fanfiction is being attacked, how long until a fanfiction writer is being carted off to a maximum state prison for writing a character from Naruto into their fanfic, or a character from Bleach, or a character fro Sekirei or Seikon no Qwaser, Highschool DxD, Trinity Blood, Witchblade, how long until THAT crap is happening? I assure you that if this passes, it will not be long, oh no, it will not be long at all, because once this passes, then ANYTHING goes, Fanfiction will be attacked for using canon characters in a fanon manner, authors will be arrested for writing a book whose main character has glasses, just like in another series, artists will be arrested and confined for using sapphire blue in the iris of one of their characters like another author. We CANNOT let this happen!

Don't believe us? Look at the links below, remove the spaces, see for yourself, and please, PLEASE spread the word and fight this assault on our freedoms, because this isn't just going to affect americans, oh no, it will affect EVERYBODY across the globe!

: / www . huffingtonpost 2013/08/07/unauthorized-streaming-felony_n_3720479 . html

: / www . washingtonpost blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/08/05/sopa-died-in-2012-b ut-obama-administration-wants-to-revive-part-of-it /

: / www . techdirt articles/20130805/12472124074/administration-cant- let-go-wants-to-bring-back-felony-streaming-provis ions-sopa . shtml

and the video which caused us to find out about this horrible thing...remove the spaces, and spread the word...

: / www . youtube watch?v=1fTt4K4Cae4

POST THIS MESSAGE AS AN UPDATE TO EACH OF YOUR FICS! PM EVERY AUTHOR YOU'VE EVER TALKED TO AND TELL THEM THE MESSAGE! TELL ALL YOUR OFFLINE FRIENDS AND FB FRIENDS! SPREAD THE WORD FAR AND WIDE!


	12. Won't You Hold My Hand?

**I'm done with the rising action, exposition, and climax thing.**

**Chapter 11: Won't you hold my hand?**

* * *

Pitch looked on with horror as he saw the nightmares (and these were HIS nightmares) running in the air above him.

"No, this isn't what I want!" Pitch lurched forward, running off of the ice and into the thick lining of the forest. He hit at the branches trying to make his way to the small town.

To be feared, it left a dry feeling in his mouth now. Pitch Black might have been the Boogieman but things were different now. This wasn't how it was supposed to be! This wasn't what he wanted!

Pitch looked up with dismay when he saw the large, dark cloud that was surrounding the town. The poor man was lost, he didn't know what to do! How was he supposed to fight against a winter spirit that seemed to have grudge on the Guardians?

...But that was the thing. It _seemed _like he had a grudge. It looked to Pitch that he was redirecting his anger on them. Speaking of 'them', what had happened to the Guardians? The man looked down at the box in his hands. It was now that he asked himself how Frost had gotten his hands on something like this. There had been no Tooth Fairy in his time to collect memories as far as he knew...and most of all...

How was he supposed to open this damn thing in the first place?!

Pitch growled before his attention was brought back to the sky that had resumed it's growling and looked like it was crackling with lightning as well. His eyes widened as he backed up and hid behind a tree, fearing that he had been sighted. He heard screaming as he heard something crash into the street behind him_._ The man's eyes widened before he ducked back behind the trunk of the trees as a bunch of deer went trampling into the forest,North's reindeer. If he had lost control of them then this was _not _good. Pitch came out from behind the tree before running ahead to see how the guardians were fairing.

The answer was this: not very well. The price of belief was taking a toll on all of them. North couldn't walk without his weigh being supported by someone or somthing, Toothiana couldn't fly, and Bunny... where was Bunny?

The two Guardians saw him making his way towards them and they gave a big smile.

"Pitch! What are you doing here! Where is mini Jack?" North asked, not having noticed the box in his hand yet.

"I honestly don't know. I found Frost but he literally fell into his lake and threw me... this," The boogieman held up the metal box in his hands in exasperation.

Tooth gasped along with North. "Is that a tooth box?" North asked, resisting the urge to reach out and touch it, not knowing if it was dangerous or not.

"No, that's not one of mine. Are these... yours?" She asked taking the box from him and examining them.

"I-I don't know. That's what he told me!" Pitch exclaimed running his hand through his hair.

"And wait, where's Bunnymund?" Pitch asked looking towards the sleigh.

"Right here mate. These legs can't run as fast as they used to," Pitch turned around and gasped at the sight.

The Pooka was hunched over and the marks that once encircled most of his body were gone, just disappeared, and his eyes had become dull and tired. He was starting to show his age.

"Lack of belief is effecting all of you," Pitch gasped out (he had known that this would happen but had never actually seen it with his own two eyes) before looking at Tooth who was still examining the box in her hands.

She pulled at the front and let out a pained cry when blue electricity crackled around the thing. She dropped it in an instant as the metal continued to surround itself with the ice blue sparks.

"Those are definitely not teeth. If it had been, it would have allowed me to open it," the only woman of the group sighed.

Pitch reached down and carefully picked up the box. The minute it touched his hand, the cracking stopped just like that as if recognizing the holder. He looked down at it, feeling as if he had seen the box before but not knowing where.

"Pitch! Now is not time to go goggle eyes over a metal box! There is one child left who believes, but it is fading!" Pitch's eyes widened.

What were they going to do? Just magically appear inside the child's room when the others had little to no power? And then there was the fact that he was the Boogieman and he wasn't so _good _at that sort of thing.

They were doomed.

-x-

Some miles away, underground, there was a child who struggled and thrashed about, trying to get free.

Said boy was none other than the young center of Fun who was throwing himself against ice cold metal bars in attempts to escape his prison. He was being held in an extremely large room that was fitted with lead gates reminisce to those of the past. Jack had, however, taken extra measures and had also created ice covered bars inside of the gates around five feet from the solid metal.

The boy threw his body against the gates again but it had no effect. He was no longer tied up and his eyes were uncovered though it didn't do much good, the child couldn't see a thing. And not only that, but the mini Jack was getting weaker and weaker the more he moved.

The center (being essence taken form) radiated a natural white glow that had been too dull in the sunlight for anyone to notice. Now, however, it was painfully obvious that he wasn't a normal spirit as his glow spread out all throughout the large room. This was one of the worst places for a spirit of light to be. The other Jack had taken a page out of the Nightmare King's book and had made the cell completely out of lead. Unlike other metals it _absorbed _light instead of reflecting it.

While Nightlight had gotten away, the small child didn't seem to have much of a chance to begin with.

His light was already beginning to dull as he felt himself go numb. When he went to slam his small body into the wall again he fell onto his back before he could surge forward. His unnecessary breathing was ragged as the glow around his body flickered like a lantern.

The guardians were not the only thing that needed saving.

-x-

Meanwhile, Pitch was finally elected to somehow help the boy continue believing seeing as he was the only one who wasn't having too much trouble in moving around like the others. Pitch continued to mutter to himself as he walked along the boy's roof and went over to the window.

It was a comical sight, really. A child talking to a stuffed Bunny rabbit. The Nightmare king stifled a laugh before realizing what the boy was talking about.

"Look, you and I are obviously at what they call, a cross road," Pitch bit his lip. He knew the other guardians would have found this sad but this was just too funny.

"I've believed in you for a long time! All I need is a little sign, just something to prove that you're real." The boy looked at the stuffed toy in front of him sadly.

It was now that Pitch remembered that this was the last light, the last believer. He couldn't let the guardians dow-

Wait, what?

The boogieman reared back. What had he just been _thinking? _Was he, _the Nightmare king, _worried about what the _Guardians _thought?

Pitch put his hand to his forehead and his eyes widened. He looked down to his left hand to find that it was shaking, and he couldn't stop it. The peach skin seemed to age within a few moments and the elder gasped clenching the hand in his other. It wouldn't go away, the skin stayed the aged state that it had become.

Pitch began to shake. No, this was not happening, this was not happening.

He looked to the last believers window. Was this happening because of... _this? _Because he was helping the guardians?

"Pitch? What are you waiting for?" The man looked down to see the guardians staring at him with so much _hope. _

The man felt fear, fear for himself and fear for what would happen to the guardians if this boy stopped believing.

But...

Wasn't this good for him? No belief in the guardians? Now that he thought about it, that_ was_ goodfor him. With no children believing in the guardians he could easily take over the world with fear and darkness. Like the Dark Age...

"Pitch!" He heard again and saw Tooth looking up at him, concerned.

And even if they got belief back, what would that mean for him? He would have to go back to hiding in the shadows again. They would push him back into the place that he had been hiding in!

**Yesssss... why should you help those fools?**

Why should he help them?

He shook his head to the group and saw their eyes widened before he disappeared into the shadows of the night.

He would _not _go back there and stay for a few more centuries if he had anything to say about it. The way the world was now, he could flourish very easily in it.

_What do you think you're doing?!_

I'm taking back my throne, what do you think that I am doing?!

_You had their trust, you had the chance to make things _right _and you throw it away?_

Make things _right? _I'm the boogieman, I'm not _supposed to _make things right!

_You _were _the boogieman! Right now you are a simple man of shadows! Have you not noticed that the Fearlings have been _silent?

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard a thing from the voices that were usually present in his mind, telling him that he wanted, no, _needed _to have revenge on the guardians and to crush all present light. He scurried his mindscape and found that they were there at the very back of his unconscience but whenever he reached out to them they screeched and huddled farther into the corner of his mindscape.

They were _afraid _of him. But how? Why?

He unconsciously transported back to his lair (which was still damaged from Frost's attack, damn him) and looked around. It was so _cold. _He shouldn't be able to feel the cold.

_You're changing Pitch and there is no way that you can stop it._

"Shut up... shut up!" He whispered clutching at his head.

_All you need is a final push. Have you forgotten about the boy? The child Frost?_

Pitch's eyes widened. Oh no.

_He's the last believer Pitch. He is a child who believes in the Guardians, in _you.

What had he done? He had left a helpless child go after being consumed with... what? What had he been consumed with?

_The shadows...you allowed them to slither back into your mind even though they fear you now._

The former Nightmare King growled as he began pacing his lair. The boy hadn't done anything wrong unlike his other half. He was an innocent that shouldn't have been separated from Jack in the first place! How was he supposed to find the child, how was he supposed to _save _him?

_The lake you idiot. _

Pitch stiffened, feeling slightly offended. Didn't his conscience know what he was asking of him?

_You have to drown._

Pitch felt a chill run down his back. He was aware of the many rumors of how Jack Frost had simply appeared out of nowhere around three centuries ago.

Some said that he had been made from ice and was given life by Mother Nature while others claimed that he had been the illegitimate chlid of the Snow Queen and Father Winter a while before they disappeared (It was their fault really, they were the ones who wanted to try and bury the world in snow).

And then there were others... much _darker _rumors that said that Jack had been...

_Killed._

Pitch shivered before pushing that thought out of his mind. If Frost had been killed, then he would never have had that happy-go-lucky attitude that he had had throughout his life as a winter spirit.

_Technically spirits are dead so..._

Would you shut up!?

The man didn't want to hear anymore from his conscience (he wasn't sure if the thing in his head was his conscience or not anymore).

_Perhaps we have gotten off course. Back to the cause, the passage will only accept you if you drown._

How do you know this?

_... _

The voice had become silent and Pitch growled in frustration. Fine! Maybe the silence would do it (and him) some good! The shadow man realized he had begun to pace and stopped abruptly. He felt all of the anger leak from him and it was replaced with an empty feeling in his chest...

What was he going to do? Would he do what the voice said or...

The black haired man was still. It was now that Pitch asked himself, why was he doing this? Why was he helping a child? He was surprised when he knew the answer.

_Because that boy is the first child that you could remember that actually ran _to_ you and filled your heart with something other than darkness._

The man grit his teeth and clenched his withered hand before lifting it to his face and examining his bony fingers.

"How long do I have?" The golden eyed male asked in defeat.

_A few hours at most._

His eyes narrowed before thrusting his right hand out in the other direction and grabbing what looked a cobweb like shadow that seemed to have suddenly appeared at the Nightmare King's side. He wrapped his crippled hand in the silk like shadow material before trying to move the covered hand. The phalanges didn't work as they were supposed to, moving much slower than normal.

He stood up straight with a look of determination as he glanced at the walls of what he had once called his lair.

"I don't have much time. How do I get out of here?"

_Since you can no longer travel in the shadows you must rely on skills you have not used in far too many years. _

The outer persona nodded as he made his way through the dark spaces, dodging the many icicles that were in his way. He had no choice but to resort to old shadows. He stopped in front of a seemingly normal wall and waved his non covered hand.

Nothing happened.

Pitch growled and repeated his actions. He nearly screamed before kicking the wall and then smashing his right fist against it before proceeding to use his body.

After a few minutes of continued pounding, cracking sounds could be heard coming from the wall and in another minute the hidden wooden door was pushed down and broken. The gray skinned man stayed where he was panting with exertion as drops of sweat ran down his temple.

He quickly ran into the room and began to search it. He hadn't come here in _years. _It had been so damn long since he had last looked through it.. maybe a good five millennia?

The room was full of dust and cobwebs with long dead spiders. There was an old yet ornamental looking bed in the center up against a wall but the tall man didn't pay attention to it. Pitch went straight to the side of the bed and opened a chest, coughing as he hacked up dust and other such particles as he searched the trunk.

Books, books, and oh! Was that-dammit, books again...

Why had he kept all of these things in the first place?

Pitch had remembered how drunk he was on power back then. He was a firm believer in the philosophy, 'Knowledge is Power' and had taken every book he had been able to get his hands on. Be it the hard to find books in the Ver core of the Pookan constellation or even the Bruma stars! It hadn't mattered to him at the time.

The Nightmare King (If you could still call him that) frantically went through container after container as he tried to find his aim. He quickly tore into one of the larger containers that he found in the very bottom of a pale on the opposite side of the room. He pulled on the lid and raised it slightly to let his hand pass through. The man let out a happy cry as felt his hand grasp something slick and cold .

_Is that...?_

Pitch lifted the top off completely and looked down, feeling something akin to a rock settle in his stomach.

_The scythe..._

It was, indeed, a scythe. It had a beautiful and ancient blade that hadn't dulled at all over the years and the handle was covered with patterns and designs that looked similar to... frost?

Why in the world did _his_ blade have_ frost _patterns on it's handle?

Had the Winter spirit gotten to it before he had? No... he couldn't have. The room was completely untouched.

_We don't have time for this._

Pitch shook his head before grabbing the blade in one hand and swinging it onto his shoulder, dwarfing the man by a few times. His left hand might have a slower reaction timing but that wouldn't stop him. He would help that child the same way that child helped him and that was his final word.

He never went back on his word.

-x-

In a dark dark cell a small figure lay curled up facing the gate.

The poor Frost child felt so _cold _even though he wasn't supposed to feel it. He could feel the happiness being sucked from his being and into the cage surrounding him. The necklace around his throat was shining just as it had been before except it seemed that there was a crack in the gem.

There was a creaking noise and the boy's eyes opened as he saw the outer gate open.

He looked up dully as his other came walking in, the older boy's mood as dark as his appearance. He cast a shadow and blocked the light as it tried to reach the center inside the lead cage.

The boy looked up at his other who was as emotionless as a metal mask. The elder looked down at his other half with haunting dark blue eyes before they narrowed in sympathy. The shell kneeled beside the cage and reached his hand to take the young one's hand.

The small child allowed it and let a small smile pass his lips as his glow brightened. The older Jack reached his hand farther into the cage and stroked the boy's hair a bit as the child fell asleep clenching his hands into the warmth the elder had provided..

The room was so silent that even a mouse could break the silence with the pitter patter of it's feet. Neither Frost children breathed, for neither were alive.

Jack was ever so slowly changing without his center to maintain the happiness in his heart. His nails had turned a pitch black and had grown in length. His hair had taken on a nearly night black color, still clinging to some white strands of his previous form. His eyes had become blurry and no longer had the life they once had. He sat down pulling his knees to his chest as he continued to look at his other, his center.

"...Please hurry Kozmotis..."

"..."

* * *

**I didn't know if I should have gone on or not so I decided that I would just end it here for now. I know that it's a lot shorter than the last one and the one before but I wanted to leave it at here for the suspense :D And yes I did **_**not **_**turn Bunny into a tiny rabbit (Bunny is a **_**pooka **_**people! He shouldn't be able to become a small little bunny rabbit!)**

**Next chapter should be **_**a lot **_**longer. **

**And why does it feel like I'm just making excuses with this story so that I can make it longer? (This was supposed to be only seven chapters dammit! -)**

**So...? What do you guys think?**

**Jack: Did I become darker than before?**

**Anna: That obvious?**

**Review Response:**

**atruebeliever****: Here you go :D I hope you like :)**

**FiOeX****: Thank you for signing and for the compliment on my story :3 ! I think SOPA is history again (from what I've heard from others)**

**vampireharry the 2****: Thank you! I hope this didn't disappoint!**

**lolxxx: Apparently not, sucks right? And for your previous review: I agree with you but I just had to do that filler otherwise a lot of things would be confusing. It clears up a few things in my opinion :)**

**and... please don't make such assumptions or this story will cause your heart to break (I warn you now, I do not DO perfect, happy little endings. It's just not interesting that way).**

**Phantom Trainer****: Hehe ^^; I at least hope you enjoyed them lol? And darn, I fail at making people sympathetic *cries*! And your right about that statement about everyone going through something like that once. The only difference is that Koz never looked back because he knew that if he did then he would turn back. Oh, and did you expect that I had engaged Seraphina? :D**

**Mystichawk****: *Swoon* Thank you! :3 And I liked to think previous societies that we have no documentary on as utopian like societies (I know, not realistic, but I like the idea)**

**sarafine-ecleips****: I'm glad to know that I didn't write them for nothing :D**

**Thank you for reading and following! (And favoriting-that's not even a word-!) **

**Please review! I enjoy reading them! **


	13. Trials and Error

"Everyone's mental!" - Regular Speech

_Get off of your ass! - _Pitch's inner self/ conscience

_"I am light :)" - _Unknown... thing

_**"*laughter*" - **_Flashback vision

**I'm not sure if I should have said any of that... but I thought that you should know :)**

**Chapter 12: Trials and Error**

* * *

The elder Jack jolted, letting out a surprised yelp before snapping his head up. He lifted himself from the ground and the child under his hand moaned at the loss of the warmth. He turned his dark eyes over to the shadowed exit to see a few Frostmares trotting towards him menacingly. He loosened himself as to not appear a threat before walking forward to meet them.

_"He has decided, he will be coming." _Jack's eyes widened upon hearing the rough words coming from one of the mare's unmoving muzzle.

Jack's mouth then twitched up until he had a small smile on his face.

"...Really? Good... now all we have to do is prepare..."

The mares nodded before the one at the head of the herd turned around and galloped at a sprint into the shadows of the entrance until it was out of sight. Jack looked back once at his center which was faring better than before. His breath was at a steady pace and his glow was holding but he didn't know how long it would last.

The black haired sprite walked over to one of the remaining Frostmares and climbed on it's back before sighing. His center might not be in his chest anymore but he could feel the pain having an effect on him. If this wasn't fixed soon...

No. He wouldn't think of that now.

"It's time to get this show on the road," Jack whispered as the remaining group ran into the shadows with Jack leading.

**-x-**

Pitch growled as he felt his hands throb. He clenched two icicles in his hands, to which the other ends were stuck in the smooth stone wall of the lair. Why in the world did his home have to be so deep underground? And most importantly, why had he decided to lug around a weapon that weighed nearly thirty pounds on his back?

The scythe was strapped firmly to his backside by a leather harness and he was currently scaling the walls of his lair, trying to get to the top. He wasn't even half way there and he was at least thirty feet up! His arms trembled and sweat dripped from his face as he gripped the icicles. This was useless...

_Stop it you fool! Do you want to be stuck here for the rest of your life?... or until you die?_

Pitch grit his teeth. He had had about enough from the voice in his head but it was better than being alone. He should be grateful...

_Stop pitying yourself!_

But he wasn't because it was annoying!

"Would you shut up! This isn't easy! I... I've never done anything like this before!" The man seemed to sag at realizing this. He had never had to do anything like this before. He had always relied on his minions and the shadows, he'd never had to do much for himself except be the brains of the operation.

_I beg to differ. You just don't remember._

The voice was _really _starting to annoy him.

Then he heard a noise. His head snapped up before instantly turning his head down when some dirt fell from the ground above. He gave a sharp gasp when he felt the walls that he hung from jolt. The ice in his hand had melted gradually from his body heat and had become fragile. When the wall shook, the already delicate ice couldn't take the pressure and snapped.

The silver eyed man let out a cry as he fell. The scythe on his back clattered to the ground a few meters away, having disentangled from his back during the fall . He let out another pained cry he impacted the ground. There was a sickening crack that echoed through the decaying tunnels of the lair. Pitch's lip trembled as he tried to keep his pain to himself.

So this was how it would end up, him lying on the floor unable to move and unable to get out while his lair collapsed on itself. He'd never thought that this was how it was going to end up for him; He was supposed to be immortal, he hadn't thought that he would be dying anytime soon.

A sparkling tear fell down his face and onto the ground. He painfully curled into himself as he ignored the voice inside his head yelling at him, telling him to get up, that he wasn't supposed to quit. Pitch was at his breaking point.

"Shut up!" His voice echoed dramatically off the walls.

"I tried my best... but my best is not enough! I'm a nothing! I have no power without the fearlings at my side and now they're afraid of me! What, what do you want me to do?" His voice came out in a desperate whisper.

"It's like what they said... I'm weak, I'm worthless..." The tears just kept falling, they wouldn't, couldn't, stop.

"_Do you really think like that?" _Pitch's eyes widened as he tried to jerk his body up only to wince in pain and failure.

"W-who are you?" His voice trembled with each word.

He couldn't see anyone, there was no one _there, _but he could tell that this wasn't one of his imaginary voices, this was something that had a purchase. It was _real._

_"I'm sure you would remember me Pitch Black. After all, I was the first person you came into contact with after your rebirth." _It was an echoic voice, holding the tone of many ancient tones, both male and female, but the main voice that was prominent was female.

Pitch's eyes narrowed. He didn't remember the first person he came into contact with, he was too full on his power and hatred at the time. It had been the fearlings doing most of the work then.

"I don't remember, who are you!" He cried out. He had to shut his eyes, however, when a bright light appeared in front of him.

He slowly managed to open eyes, getting accustomed to the brightness, and was surprised at what he saw in front of him.

It was a ball of pure white light, about the size of his fist. It floated in front of his face. The first thought that ran through his mind when he saw the thing was of how familiar the warmth felt on his skin.

_"I am here to offer you a deal, Pitch Black. Listen to all I have to say before questioning me."_

The man's eyes narrowed. He never liked deals, he had always thought that they were superficial and that someone could lose too much from making a deal no matter how harmless it looked on the outside.

_"Jack Frost is of this time period, yes, but his heart does not belong here. It belongs to the time in which things were different. A long time ago he was given a special gift, I need you to retrieve this gift and another that shall be important in the long run."_

Pitch's eyes narrowed even further. First, this ball of light was talking to him, and now it was telling him that he had to get something for it?

_"I can see the questions in your eyes. Why do I want you to get it? How are you supposed to get out of this hole, especially now with a broken limb? Why is it that I care at all?_

_Do not worry, all of those questions will be answered within time... but first, you are wondering what is your benefit from the deal?"_

Pitch nodded weakly as the glow flickered a bit before returning to its original state.

_"I can heal you and get you out of here before it kills you Pitch."_

The man's eyes widened in disbelief, hope rising in his chest without his consent.

"And all I have to do is find these _gifts_? What are they?" Pitch was cautious with this... whatever that thing was.

_"Something that will help you. But do not open any of the containers they are in." _It was Pandora's box all over again.

"What in the world do you mean to _not open them_?!" The man's mouth twisted into a snarl before wincing at the pain coming from his body at moving.

_"Exactly what I said, do not seek the answers of the treasures until the core is near." _For Mim's sake-

"Can you please talk without the riddles?!" Pitch growled. The thing was making no sense!

_"Hehe... you will understand what I am saying soon. Do we have an accord?" _No one bloody spoke like that anymore!

As annoyed as Pitch was at this blinky...light... whatever it was, it was offering him a way out, a way to save that _child. _Well, it was better than sitting around and dying.

"Yes I accept," Pitch said, his words coming out rushed before he realized that he really had no idea how he was supposed to find these objects.

"Wai-!"

Pitch didn't have the time to contradict anything because he was blinded by the light that seemed to grow tenfold. He nearly cried out as his arm began to burn and he became disoriented. He didn't know what was going on, but he felt a lightness that came with flying as he was lifted up by who knows what and then for the first time since he could remember, he had dreams; _good dreams._

**-x-**

Seraphina paced and paced in the middle of her Sanctuary, incredibly nervous and annoyed.

This wasn't supposed to happen,

This wasn't supposed to happen!

"What have you done Sera?" Said woman jumped before whipping around, her hair falling in her face from the abrupt motion and covering her eyes.

She knew that voice. She pushed her hair out of her face and was finally able to see the face of who she was talking to.

"Ombric...?" She whispered. She hadn't seen the time master in _years. _She had thought that he had been replaced!

A sudden yet fearful look came across her face.

"I-it is good to see you again Father time," She stuttered, swallowing her pride and curtsying lowly to the man.

"I think you ought to stay on the ground for everything I am going to say Seraphina," The old man said when she was about to raise herself from her position on the stone.

Her lithe form trembled. She might be older than the man but he was Father _time. _He could erase her from existence if he wanted to!

The man's eyes narrowed down onto the woman before him.

"You have broken your oath, you are aware of that." Seraphina jolted at that before raising her head in denial.

"I have done no such thing! I am merely trying to..." She trailed off when she saw the hard look in the normally grandfather like male. She quickly looked back down, her red lips trembling. She felt like she was a little girl again, being scolded by her father.

"You swore to uphold your duties by restraining and controlling the four seasons, by taking care of their representations. You have done the opposite! You have sent Winter into a swirling abyss of chaos! You have sent your own _son _into this mess because of your own selfishness!" Seraphina's eyes narrowed.

"The last few years the seasons have been unbalanced, heat has been dominating this world with little to no cool to support it. And when the cold does come, it comes in unnatural waves in which it has killed many! And then there is the matter of how far you have pushed that child... your own flesh and blood..." Seraphina's eyes snapped wide open.

"What? I never had a child! I was... I was infertile..." She looked away ashamed.

"How sad... have you forgotten that you are _Mother _Nature. How can you say something so foolish?" The old man was not letting up on her one bit.

"I was not always immortal! I was once... mortal," Her skin paled when she heard herself speak.

Her back bent over in front of her as she shook, her eyes impossibly wide with tears and her hands covering her mouth.

"No..." Ombric's eyes narrowed in pity. How could she not realize what would happen if she went through with this plan?

"I don't care what happens to you anymore. You are a despicable being, a failure as both a daughter and a mother.

No matter what happens from now on, your punishment will be the same. Enjoy your remaining freedom Seraphina Pitcher, because I can assure you that once I find someone to replace you, you will wish the world drowned in snow and ice."

Seraphina looked back up to reply to the man but by the time she had looked up, he was gone, leaving nothing in his place; it looked like no one had even been there in the first place.

The former Mother Nature removed her hand from her mouth, still in shock.

"All of this... everything that I have put everyone around me through... has been for nothing?"

**-x-**

When Pitch came to he was disoriented, he couldn't feel his limbs and he felt detached from everythign around him. All he saw was black, and then he realized that his eyes were closed.

He had to fight to raise his eyelids but when he did he was surprised at what he saw.

Crystal, and not ice crystals, but these were pure crystals that were not supposed to _exist _anymore! They were a luminous white and they glowed with an ethereal light. Man had attempted to cultivate these crystals long ago but had failed; when they had attempted to touch the crystals they had lost their light and had dissolved from the greed in His heart.

It took a while before he was able to move the rest of his body and another moment when he started to hear again.

Water, was that water he heard? He asked himself.

No, this wasn't water. Whatever it was, it was something awfully like it.

And then he began to feel. His hand clenched under him to find a cold, smooth surface that felt like ice compared to his body heat.

Finally, at last, he began to see. His eyes had been blurred before and the once golden orbs had turned an incredibly dark oak color that was something strange to look upon. They shifted and blinked as he stared up, seeing a near black sky above him.

_"You shall start here; here you will find a part of the first item. Good luck..."_

The temporary paralysis had completely worn off by now and the Nightmare king shot up into a sitting position. He groaned in pain as he experienced whiplash in his neck for snapping it too fast. He put his hand to his head as he mumbled to himself about useless beams of light that didn't never do anything good for him. **(Yes, the way I wrote was intentional)**

Then he realized that there was a warm feeling in his arm. He looked down and nearly fell over in surprise to see something _on his arm! _It looked like a glowing leech of some sort (though it looked much more heavenly then the disgusting creatures) that had small tendrils spread from the sides of its body. The thing was attached to his skin and instead of draining him, it seemed to _give _him strength! He refrained from pulling it off of him though it sent shivers up his spine.

He sat up straighter as he looked around. Wherever he was, it looked like it wouldn't be able to hold life of any kind. A small part of him felt disappointed for some reason. Pitch shook it off as he carefully stood up. He was surprised at how light he felt and nearly fell over from how much force he put into his body to move. Pitch carefully looked around and found nothing but crystals and stone under his feet. He had never seen stone like this before. It was almost soft and his feet seemed to sink a bit. He looked to his side and saw his scythe lying on the ground. As he stepped forward to pick it up his foot hit something. He nearly fell to the ground cursing as grabbed his toe in pain and bit his tongue. When his eyes stopped watering he looked at the offending object which he had hit.

The thing was prodding shallowly out of the stone and shone when light hit it. It wasn't another crystal, he knew that much. Pitch reached down and tugged at it. Surprisingly it came out with a small amount of force. The man turned it around in his grip and looked at it. The object shone like silver but looked as fragile as glass. It was a tear shaped container that looked incredibly familiar.

There was absolutely no way that this was it. There was just no way that it was this easy.

_I think that you should turn around... _

At hearing the warning his eyes widened as he snapped around in time to catch a ball shaped crystal being hurdled at him. He screamed as he ducked and the thing missed him by only a few inches and hit a nearly destroyed stone pillar (which shattered on contact). His heart raced as he felt the ground shake. This was not turning out good.

The previously unmoving crystal pillars began to shake as they shifted, cracked, and grew. Pitch watched wide eyed as shadows fell upon him.

The once lifeless crystals were now 15 ft tall giants made completely out of the crystals they were born from. Spikes were their hands and shoulders while their heads were cube shaped. There were at least five of them towering over Pitch. The man looked down to the container in his hands before looking back at the giants. His gaze then shifted over to his weapon that hadn't moved from the vibrations of the ground, thankfully.

The giants seemed to notice and lunged at him screaming a battle cry in deep piercing voices of an unfamiliar language.

Pitch dove down, sliding slightly as he grabbed his scythe and held it in front of him as he shifted to a battle stance.

When the things finally seemed to realize that Pitch was no longer where he was before, they seemed to become even more enraged. They turned around and skid slightly as they charged again.

It was a battle that Pitch would look back on and wonder what the _hell _had happened.

One minute he was aware of his body movements and could feel everything that he was doing. His original plan was just to head straight into the fry and swing at the crystal creatures until they were shattered glass.

His body had different ideas.

The leech like being on his arm seemed to glow before dimming. The black on that arm completely separated and became a cloth like substance that clung to his skin and looked like thick woven spider webs while the underneath became a healthy peach.

His eyes seemed to shift, the whites of his eyes dulling, before control was ripped straight from his grasp.

His body seemed to think of it's own accord as it stood still, waiting for the monsters to come closer.

It was with the grace of a snake that he moved and weaved through his opponents, weapon at his side, dodging punches, stomps, and other attacks on his person, his movements akin to that of a graceful dancer. And then he struck and those movements picked up tempo.

It happened so fast that it was a bit fuzzy in his memory but he could recollect most of it.

To put in the best possible way: it was a massacre.

The blade made no noise as it cut through the crystal, clean and smooth, and chopping through the five otherworldly beings as if they were nothing but sitting vegetables.

When Pitch came to he was incredibly disoriented, too disoriented to notice the change to his arm. And then there was the other arm that followed the first's example...

The man tumbled to the ground and lay there with his head in his lap trying to fight the painful pounding in his head. After a minute or two it had faded into just a minor headache which would most likely not go away for some time. Pitch raised his head before looking to the container in his hand.

He knew he wasn't supposed to open it but...

He turned the object around in his hand before he saw a latch on the bottom. He unhooked it and the lid popped open. The man carefully moved his hand to take off the container's top...

and when he pulled it off he found...

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The man was trembling.

He had been bloody _tricked!_

In his anger he raised himself to his feet and let out a cry, throwing the item to the side. He continued to fume as the container twisted and tumbled, surprisingly not shattering when it hit the ground, and hit one of the leftovers of the crystal beings.

While Pitch was reveling in the rays of his own stupidity the pieces of crystal began to vibrate. The crystal seemed to be attracted to the container and the metal material acted like a magnet as the crystals began to surround the unknown metal, making a rigid barrier. When Pitch finally noticed the remains of the crystal beings had either become a part of the container or had disintegrated.

The man carefully went over to it and picked it up. The crystal was completely encasing the tear shaped holder, creating a reflected image. Pitch was very confused by now.

_"I told you not to open the container Black. The object will not be revealed until you fulfill all three tasks and even then, it will be the object that decides when it will allow you to open it. You have two more tasks to complete."_

Pitch wanted to scream at the being. The voice seemed to echo throughout the area and made her(at least he assumed the it was a her) seem almost divine.

"What happened just there? Why did it feel like my body was moving on it's own?! How could I do that in the first place?! And why in the world was this task made so easy ?" In truth the task had been too easy. As if it were meant to be.

He heard a laughter ring out through the area.

_"I believe that you have-what is the word that humans use these days- 'jinxed' yourself."_

Pitch's eyebrow (which I think that he does have, just that his skin was so dark that no one could tell) twitched as felt like hitting both himself and the invisible being that was apparently "helping" him. The being simply laughed at him and Pitch couldn't help but feel like he knew that laughter.

_**'Na na Kozy! Don't'a be such a spoil-sport!'**_

_**'I'm not a spoil sport, you're just too active for me.'**_

_**'Then why is it tha' you're with'a' me?'**_

_**'Because you're worth it.'**_

Pitch shook his head. Where in the world had that come from?

_"Pitch, it is time for your second task. Are you ready?"_

Pitch braced himself, taking a deep breath before letting it out.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

_**'Such a spoil-sport lad, have a little fun!' Laughter followed.**_

* * *

**0-0 I'm sorry for taking so long! Is not my fault that school started and I barely have any time to type! T-T**

**But I can honestly say that I don't like the middle of the chapter very much... I hate fighting scenes -_-lll**

**But I got finished with this chapter so that be good right :D?**

**Review Responses:**

**Shadowed Violin: Thank you! :D I've taken a turn here and I hope people like it ^^;**

**TearsDrippingDown: Here you go! :)**

**atruebeliever: Thank you! And I love your user XD**

**Stellalona: I might, you never know. And Jack doesn't suffer just because of her in truth, she just kinda tipped the match into the puddle of gasoline ^^;**

**lolxxx: Pitch is going as fast as he can! *watching Pitch run around a track field* Come on Pitch! Five more laps! Pitch: I hate you, you damn writer! Anna: You gotta get into shape if you want to face Jack! XD And thank you so much! And it's not going to be that easy for Pitch X3**

**Phantom Trainer: Maybe I should make a side chapter after the story is done where I put all of the reviewers in the story and let them have a go at her XD would people like that?**

**Mystichawk: Thank you :D**

**sarafine-ecleips: Here you go ;) Hope you liked!**

**Eizus: Thank you! Someone who agrees with me! And I give you my thanks for the compliment *bows***

**Peanut Butter Rules: I know... How the hell am I going to keep little Jackie alive until Pitch gets to him?**

**Thanks for the reviews and please tell me what you think about this chapter!**


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